Act 2715
by LadyLissaLight
Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!
1. Prologue

Story: Act number 2715

Author: LadyLissaLight

Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!

**Kingsley Shacklebolt shook his head **for what felt like the tenth time since the meeting he was in had begun. "No. Absolutely not. No!"

"Shacklebolt," the first wizard began, and Kingsley turned from his desk, struggling to hide outrage and disdain for the idea these wizards were proposing.

The first wizard was the worst, Kingsley had decided instantly upon hearing them speak. He was the oldest, and he spoke with a slight wheeze to his voice, making him sound decrepit and doddery. An act, Kingsley had realised. The man was the leader of the group of three, and though he sounded easy going and even kindly, he pressed his advantage by using wheedling tones, before proceeding to finish his speech with a smug look and hard words.

"Shacklebolt," he said. "The populous has never been more in need of such a thing! Morale is low, families are pulled apart… surely you can see, even you, that this could benefit us? Restore us to peace?"

Kingsley gritted his teeth. The three men had scheduled this meeting under the pretence of helping to 'restore' the wizarding communities in England, and as they were three of the oldest and most influential members of the wizengamot, he could not decline. They had, however, dropped the pretence quickly and proposed this outrageous, ridiculous law, which the three of them (wizard 1, wizard 2 and Kingsley, as wizard three had yet to speak) had been 'discussing' for the better part of half an hour.

"I know that this idea would rip the remaining shreds of dignity that some of the populous have, to pieces. I fought in the war too," he reminded them. What he didn't say was that he had fought, yes, while they cowered in their seats at the wizengamot and gone along and passed all the laws that Pius Thicknesse asked them to. They were in no position to try and remind him of everything that had happened. "I faced this war, and from my experiences, there is no way, _no way_, they would succumb to this easily, let alone like it! They will never heal if we do this."

The second wizard spoke up. "What the families feel now is expected," he acknowledged with a slight dip of his head. "But it is not the current populous that we are concerned with. It is the future generations that we aim this at and that would be benefited by this. If it were enacted, this – this blunder, would never happen again."

"Blunder?" Kingsley asked, disbelief colouring his tone.

"Perhaps not the wisest of word choices," spoke up the first wizard again, shooting his companion a look. "But surely you would not want such a thing occurring again?" He gave Kingsley a smile that sent another snap of frustration through the newly-instated Minister. "Surely you want what is best… and to think, if we did as proposed, there would be no reason for this... war, to happen again. Surely you want that, Shacklebolt?" he wheezed, coughing slightly.

Kingsley felt the trap closing in. Deny them, and make it look like he had no plans to guarantee a safe future for the wizarding world, to look as if he did not care… or succumb and face the hatred of the people. He resisted the urge to sink his face into his hands. Politics. He hated them. Kingsley had come in to this job knowing it would be difficult, that it would take a tough person who made tough decisions to have any hope of setting things to rights again. But this…

"We've prepared the matches," the second wizard cut in again. Kingsley stared at him.

"Surely this is a bit premature," he objected, but was waved off.

"We have looked at each individual in question and selected the best person for their personality." The wizard rummaged in his satchel, producing a folder. He rifled through it for a few seconds before withdrawing a slip of parchment. "For example, to use a well-known personality… Hermione Granger and -"

"No!" Kingsley cried, forgetting himself for a second. "Never. Hermione Granger will never have to be put through the torment of this, especially after what was done to her. Have you not seen the marks she bears from her ordeals?"

The wheezing wizard gave Kingsley a sly smile. "We realise that, ah, it may be difficult for Miss Granger to adjust to this situation, so we took special consideration and time when deciding her match. And she _will_ be matched!" he said firmly, smiling. "Because, as we have been told time and time again by yourself and her interviews with the press, that she dislikes receiving special treatment. So we propose to treat her no differently." He finished, the smile playing around his lips.

Kingsley shook his head as the second wizard picked up again. "As for the other two, Mr Potter and Mr Weasley, only the latter has reason to be paired up, and so he shall. He was not a difficult pairing to make, not at all. Mr Potter, being of the blood status he is, will not need to."

"Although," mused the first wizard, "If we could make an example of him…"

Kingsley cut him off. "Absolutely not. If you wish to make rules like this, you will abide by them to the letter. I will not have this getting more out of hand than it already is." He drew breath. "As for the matter of Miss Granger and Mr Weasley, could you not pair them together?"

"No, that would obviously look staged," the first wizard coughed seemingly regretfully. "And we cannot have that."

Kingsley sank back into his chair, his mind awhirl. "Nothing is decided yet." He said, trying not to show his weariness. "This is all speculation…"

The third wizard cleared his throat, causing the minister to look up. "The court of the wizengamot has voted." The man had a deep, gravelly voice, that suggested power. He laid a slip of parchment on Kingsley's desk. "All 52 signatures. This law has been passed."

Kingsley's sense of despair settled over him like a wet blanket. "I see." As minister, he could not personally veto or overrule a pass of a law by the wizengamot, when all 52 members had signed. But they had gone behind his back to do this. When? And how had not been informed? He ought to have been told, as to make his case against it! He felt furious.

"Here are the terms and conditions regarding the law." The wheezy wizard set another piece of parchment down in front of him, and Kingsley stared at it.

_Act Number 2715 - The 'Marriage law'_

_The conditions of such an act are as follows:_

_Every pure-blooded or muggleborn witch or wizard between the ages of 18 (or on completion of their schooling) and 21 will be matched with another witch or wizard._

_In each match there will be one muggleborn and one pureblood._

_Halfbloods are not required to be matched._

_Upon being matched, each citizen will receive a letter detailing their match and a time for a scheduled appointment._

_Each matched pair must appear at the appointment or face ministry court._

_Each pair must move into an apartment or form of housing together with in the space of a month of the appointment._

_Others are permitted to live with the pair_

_The matched pair will have one year to live together before they must marry_

_In the event that the pair are unhappy together and think there is extenuating circumstances, and no longer wish to be matched, they must file an application to have their engagement reviewed. _

_If one half of the pair finds another match that is of the same blood status as their first match, they may submit an application to the ministry to have their pairing reviewed, but only at the consent of both partners._

_Failure to marry within one year and one month of moving in together will end with the couple being examined by the ministry and applicable consequences will be carried out._

_Once married, the couple must stay together for life._

Kingsley finished reading and looked up at the three wizards, before looking down again and re-reading. It all seemed suspiciously reasonable, he thought. If only the wizarding community would see it that way.

He pushed the paper away with a sigh, and gestured for the wizards to sit. "I suppose, if this is going to go ahead, we have a lot to talk about."

The wheezy wizard smiled.

A/N I'm back! I was expecting to take a bit of a break from writing, but this suddenly popped into my head, and it was so well developed that I just had to give it a shot.

I'm still unbeta'd, but I'm making more of an effort to correct my spelling and such. I know this is a short chapter, but it _is_ only the prologue.

I'll give you a little teaser, for those of you who care enough to read this: Hermione is _not_ matched to Draco. ;)

Lissa


	2. Surprise

Story: Act number 2715

Author: LadyLissaLight

Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!

"**You go first." Ginny said **stubbornly.

"No!"

They'd been sitting there for nearly half an hour. Staring at each other and the small, white envelopes that sat on the kitchen table between them. The envelopes that sealed their fate.

It had been three weeks since Kingsley Shacklebolt had made the announcement of Act 2715, or the marriage law.

Hermione knew Kingsley. She knew he would never propose such an idea, and she knew from his careful words when announcing the law that he didn't agree with it.

_She, Harry and Ron had been in the second row of seats at the conference, and Kingsley's eyes had seemed to dart to the three of them as he apologised for upsetting the already unstable balance and peace of their community._

_She had been shocked. Then angry. Harry had looked horrified, and Ron had been furious, standing up and adding his cry of fury and shock to the others'. _

_Kingsley's face had closed off, confirming Hermione's theory that this idea had not been his own. He had apologised again and carried on with his speech, informing them that they would receive letters in their near future, confirming the details of the law, and their matches._

_He had then left quickly, leaving the press with a riot of people yelling and asking questions. Hermione herself had felt shaken._

_She would have to become part of a family that would most likely hate her. She shivered, recalling Bellatrix's shrieks and screeches as she cursed Hermione continuously, imagining her soon to be husband to be just as bad._

_Ron's anger seemed to deflate as he glanced back at her. Something of her own thoughts must have shown on her face, for he dropped back into his chair, wrapping a jacketed arm around her shoulders. His forehead rested on her cheek and he squeezed her arm gently. "We'll get through this somehow," he whispered. "There has to be a way out. And if there is, you'll find it, and I'll help you. You won't have to do this."_

_She felt a small sob escape her lips, and Ron kissed her cheek. "Please don't cry, Hermione." He said anxiously, his freckled face looming above hers._

_Harry had gone after Kingsley, and Hermione did not feel, in any way, like staying with the angry and confused mob. "Can we go home?" she mumbled. "Please?"_

_"Sure." He helped her up. "Ginny needs to know about this anyway."_

_Hermione let Ron lead her along the road, her mind already drifting to the horrible future that lay ahead of her. A pureblood. She had to marry a pureblood._

_Maybe it wouldn't be too bad, a reasonable part of her mind suggested. Maybe she'd get a pureblood that didn't believe in blood supremacy. Like Anthony Goldstein or Neville Longbottom. She wouldn't mind being forced into marriage with either of them._

_The less reasonable part of her mind drowned out the other part though, shouting that this couldn't happen to her. Hermione shuddered again as unwanted images of Bellatrix Lestrange cackling, Draco Malfoy sneering and Voldemort staring down at her rose in her mind._

"_Hermione?" Ron nudged her. "Ready to apparate?"_

_She nodded, grasping his arm and twisting on the spot._

_Moments later they appeared outside Ginny and Hermione's flat in the centre of London. The door flew open and Ginny hurried out._

"_I've been waiting for you, what's happened!"_

"_Let's go inside, I'll explain," Ron muttered firmly. "Let's go, Hermione." He added kindly._

_As they stepped into the cosy flat, Hermione shook herself. There was absolutely no use in behaving so weakly, and crying. She was studying magical law, and she'd read a lot of books. She knew she could find a solution._

_There was no way she'd have to go through with this._

That had been three weeks ago.

Hermione had spoken to Kingsley, done research, pored over books of laws, done more research – and to no avail. This was going to happen.

Ginny sighed. "Together?"

Hermione nodded. "On three."

"One, two," the girls counted, "Three."

Hermione ran her thumb inside the envelope and tore it open, pulling the parchment out. Her eyes flicked over the meaningless details and conditions, searching for the name that would be her future.

Eventually they found it. And Hermione's stomach plummeted with a mix of disappointment and relief.

_Blaise Zabini_

He was a Slytherin, a pureblood and one of the gang that had tormented her so, for all her school years.

On the other hand, he had no family, as his mother had been killed in the war, and he had never known his father, meaning that at least she would only have to put up with hatred and disgust from one person, rather than a whole family. He also had never insulted her directly, always keeping to the shadows of the group, with Theo Nott. She had no particular memories of him jinxing her, calling her names or going out of his way to be mean. He hadn't been part of the inquisitorial squad, nor had he been a death eater.

It was bad, she decided, but it could have been much worse.

She looked up from her letter to see Ginny looking relieved. "Who?-" Hermione started.

"Dean Thomas," said Ginny in surprise. "I mean, he can be a right git, and very annoying, but he's a familiar face, you know?"

Hermione nodded. "Thank god, Gin." She said weakly.

"What about you, Hermione?" Ginny asked, reaching and grabbing Hermione's wrist in support.

"Blaise Zabini."

A peculiar look crossed Ginny's face. "I see." She said neutrally. "You'll be fine with Blaise, Hermione. He isn't… nearly as bad as you'd think. He'll treat you right. Just…" she hesitated. "Just don't fall in love with him, because he doesn't stick to one woman."

Before Hermione could inquire as to how Ginny knew this, the fireplace lit up with a green light, and through it tumbled Ron, and a few seconds later, Harry.

Hermione looked down at the table. The last couple of weeks had nearly completely broken her and Ron apart. Once they faced the inevitable that they were no longer going to be together, Ron had started to avoid her, and as she had been so busy with her job, she had had no time to seek him out.

Now he came charging over to the table, waving his own letter. "Who did you get, Hermione?" He demanded.

"Blaise Zabini," she said, waiting for his explosion.

"Who?"

She rolled her eyes. "He was our age. Went to Hogwarts, was in Slytherin… But he never made fun of me or anything. Maybe it won't be too bad."

Ron gaped. "A Slytherin! They're all bad, Hermione!"

"I'm trying to make the best of this, Ron." She snapped half-heartedly. "Don't make it worse."

"Sorry." He said awkwardly.

"Who did you get, Ron?" Ginny asked.

"Some girl I've never heard of. Her name is," he glanced down at the paper for reference, "Estella Jones."

"Oh I know Estella!" Ginny said brightly. "She was my year at Hogwarts, a Hufflepuff. She must have decided not to go back for seventh year."

"Why is everyone getting paired up with Hogwarts students?" Harry asked in bewilderment, after Ginny had announced her match.

"I imagine that the law makers or matchers either want to make this transition as easy as possible by pairing us with people we know, or they are simply trying to pair similar ages together and as most people our age attended Hogwarts…" Hermione suggested.

"You're right." Harry agreed. He shook his head. "I wish there was something I could do about it."

"Don't worry Harry." Ginny smiled weakly. After the battle, Harry and Ginny had simply not gotten back together. Harry sometimes still watched Ginny and Ginny still behaved oddly around her ex-boyfriend, but neither seemed to make a move. And now they would never have the chance to.

"Just be glad you weren't matched."

Harry sighed, slumping onto the couch. "When are your appointments?"

"Wednesday." Said Ginny.

"The day after tomorrow." Said Ron.

"Tomorrow." Hermione muttered.

XXXXXX

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Ginny asked, arms crossed and leaning against the door of their apartment.

"I'm sure." Hermione replied, straightening her shirt in the hallway mirror. "Do I look, er, ok?"

Ginny grinned. "Yes, you look perfectly well for a business meeting."

Hermione had neglected her traditional clothing, and was wearing a suit skirt and blouse, with her hair in a ponytail, wanting to look professional for her appointment.

She turned back to her friend with a sigh. "Im still can't believe there is no way around this."

Ginny shook her head. "Me either." Than as Hermione checked her watch in preparation to apparate, she said, "good luck!"

"Thanks Ginny. See you in an hour." Hermione twisted on the spot.

Arriving outside the ministry, slightly breathless from her apparition, Hermione fixed her hair and then strode determinedly through the masses of witches and wizards going about their business, towards the elevators, which would take her to Kingsley's office, where the meeting was.

Apparently Kingsley had volunteered to be part of every meeting, as to make the process easier. This was no mean feat, and Hermione liked Kingsley better for it, although she knew this was not his fault or idea, having been told the full story by Harry.

Hermione stepped into the elevator with a few other people, and just as the doors were about to close, some paper aeroplanes flew in. Behind Hermione, a witch and a wizard were discussing the latest models of a broomstick and which Quidditch teams were petitioning to own it for the next world cup, in hushed voices.

When the doors opened again on the second floor, Hermione's boss at the department of magical law enforcement stepped in. She spotted Hermione and gave her a brief smile. "Granger, good morning. Not at work today?"

"I have my appointment with the minister today, for act 2715." Hermione told her. "So I've been excused for the day."

Her boss nodded. "Understandable. Nasty business this. Good luck then, eh, Granger?" She smiled again as the lift doors opened and it was Hermione's turn to step out.

The minister's office was on the fourth floor, where all the important offices were. Hermione approached the door to Kingsley's office, to find it guarded by two aurors. One she recognized as Emmeline Vance, who had been part of the order, but the other she did not know.

"Name?" asked the second auror, a man with dark blond hair plastered to his thick forehead.

"Hermione Granger." She replied. "Hello Emmeline."

"Hello Hermione. Got your appointment for the act have you?"

Hermione confirmed this, and the male auror slipped inside, popping out again after a second saying, "the minister will see you now."

Hermione opened the door and stepped into Kingsley's office. The room was simple, with pale blue walls and a large desk with heaped paperwork on it. Candles and light illuminated the room, as the curtains, also blue, were closed. At the desk sat Kingsley, dressed more formally then she'd ever seen him dress before.

"Hermione. Take a seat." He smiled at her. "Drink?"

"Oh, no thank you." She replied, sitting.

"Hermione, I hope you know that I am very sorry for this. It is not by my choice that you were included in this law. I tried to make an exception but the wizengamot is crafty and would not allow it. I only hope that you will not be too disappointed with your match. He is-"

What he was, Hermione did not find out, because Kingsley was interrupted by the male auror, stepping into the room to say "Minister, a Blaise Zabini to see you."

Kingsley gave Hermione a regretful smile before saying, "Send him in then."

A moment later the door opened again and Blaise Zabini stepped into the room. Hermione regarded him carefully, taking in his general appearance and mannerisms.

He was quite tall, but not as tall as, say, Ron. His skin was dark and his eyes seemed to be a liquid chocolate colour. His hair was the deepest of midnights, and fell stylishly about his ears, longer than it had been in school. He was lanky, but looked as if he had some muscles. The robes he wore were a deep olive green over dark pants and a dark shirt. His shoes looked expensive. As he walked, he seemed graceful, light.

Sinking into his seat, Blaise turned to look at her. "Morning Granger." He said, smiling.

Hermione's eyebrows rose of their own accord, and she tried not to look too shocked. "G-Good morning." She stammered in reply, embarrassing herself.

Kingsley than cleared his throat. "Well. As you two already know each other, much of the speech I'm supposed to make is unneeded. I realise there may have been some trouble between you two in the past, but I hope you can both put that aside now and get along. I was uncertain about your matching, but…" He trailed off. "Well. You have one month from today to move in together, and one year from that date to be wed. You have the next two months of work to get to know each other. Do you have any other questions?"

Hermione shook her head, as did Blaise.

Kingsley smiled. "Well then, this is supposed to be the part where you two get to know each other. May I suggest getting a coffee?"

Hermione stared at him for a second; weirdly he had just reminded her of Dumbledore.

"Brilliant idea, minister!" Blaise said jovially, leaping to his feet. "Shall we then, Miss Granger?"

"Oh yes, I suppose so." She rose, dusting off her skirt. "Goodbye Kingsley."

"Good day Hermione, Mr Zabini." He nodded.

They left the room and walked quietly back to the elevator. Zabini was the first to break the silence.

"Well that was a right waste of time!" he said, untucking his shirt and taking off his robe. "To think I out all this effort in!"

Hermione couldn't help but smile a little, especially when he added, "and don't tell me you always dress like that Granger, because if you do, I refuse to marry you."

They stepped into the elevator, Hermione finding her voice and saying, "I got up an hour early to tame my hair."

Blaise laughed and as they left the elevator again, he asked, know any good coffee places then?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes, but they're in muggle London."

"All the better, everyone will stare if we go to diagon alley."

Hermione was growing more and more surprised by the second.

Blaise chatted easily to her as they walked through muggle London in the sunshine to the coffee shop she liked.

When they reached it and sat down, though, his smile disappeared and he looked at her more seriously. "Granger," he said. "I am not a serious person, but just this once I am going to make an exception. Please don't be scared of marrying."

Hermione opened her mouth in shock.

"I know I'm a pureblood and you have awful memories of all that kind of stuff, but I honestly don't give a flying pig about it." He told her. "Blood has never mattered to me."

"Oh." She mumbled.

He smiled. "Is that clear?"

She nodded, suddenly liking Blaise.

"Good!" He yawned, stretching. "Can we order now? I need a wake up. "

A/N

So, there is the second chapter. Some of you guessed she'd be matched with Blaise, and you were right. But, this IS a DRAMIONE fic, so there is no BlaisexHermione. There is, however, GinnyxBlaise, as a secondary pairing. There will be quite a bit of Ginny/Blaise eventually, so if you don't like them, then you probably won't like this fic.

Thank you all for the amazing reviews for the last chapter, bloody brilliant as Ron would say.

Lissa


	3. Goodbyes and Hellos

Story: Act number 2715

Author: LadyLissaLight

Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!

"**You're going to be a** fun one to live with, Granger, I can see it already." Blaise grinned at her over his cup of coffee. He had just made a very rude suggestion that they announce their matching by passionately kissing in the middle of diagon alley, which she had immediately shot down in flames.

She gave a huff. "And you're going to be a challenge!"

"But you'll never be bored, Granger! And nor will I, you know what they say about the quiet ones." He winked.

She scoffed at him, hiding a slight laugh. These days when humour was not the first thing on anyone's mind, Blaise's dirty jokes were a dose of well-needed refreshment. "And where _will_ we live?" she asked after a moment.

"Why, my apartment of course! It's the most spacious and beautiful building in all of London!" he flung his arms out dramatically.

She crossed her arms sceptically. "I'd have to see it first."

"We'll go right now!" he suggested. "Although it is extremely messy. I had a bit of a party last night."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I have to be getting home, Ginny is expecting me. How about tomorrow?"

"Ginny, Ginny Weasley?" Blaise asked curiously, forgetting about the apartment.

"Yes…?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows.

Blaise smirked. "I wouldn't mind seeing that every morning… Or night… Or any time at all, really."

"Blaise Zabini!" she snapped indignantly.

He chuckled. "Only joking. Now, the apartment. Tomorrow is good, yes. Shall I swing by your place and pick you up at say, 10?"

She considered her plans for the morrow, thinking over what she had to do. "Yes, 10 sounds good." She agreed, nodding.

"Excellent! Well, I'm off; I have a certain little someone to meet with…"

"You just said you could show me your apartment now!"

He laughed. "I like you Granger. You're good value. See you next time!" and he stood up without explaining himself, and walked briskly back to wizarding London.

Hermione sat there for a second, shaking her head. Blaise was right; living with him would be anything but boring. She didn't even know how he was a Slytherin, when he was so bright and friendly.

Still thinking about the oddity that Blaise was, Hermione rose and walked back towards her flat, where Ginny would be waiting.

5 minutes later upon arriving back at her sweet little apartment, she opened the door to find Ginny sitting on the couch, swinging her legs impatiently, arms crossed. When she heard Hermione, she whirled around, red hair flying.

"Hermione!" she cried, leaping up. "How was it? Come and sit down and tell me everything."

Hermione laughed at her friend's frenzy. "It wasn't anything big Ginny. But I like Blaise, I've decided. He is awfully crude, and yet it's somehow funny, and not at all horrible like I would have imagined. He even told me he doesn't care about blood purity!"

Ginny had been watching her carefully, and when Hermione had finished, she smiled. "I'm so glad for you! Maybe you'll eventually fall in love."

Hermione looked at her friend oddly. Ginny was not at all the type of person to talk about love or romance, or who was in love with whom. She was much more down to earth. But now the red-head was looking away, out the window, so Hermione couldn't see her expression. "I doubt it, but anything is possible." She shrugged.

"But did your heart skip a beat when you saw him? Did you immediately find yourself thinking how attractive he was? Did you check him out without realising it?" Ginny asked, sounding disinterested.

"What? No, Ginny. I still have feelings for your brother! And I don't understand why you want to know."

Ginny was the one who shrugged now. "I've just heard that all girls have that reaction to him."

Hermione was smart enough to know that Ginny wasn't being truthful, but she let it go, as a distraction arrived through the fireplace in the form of Harry.

"Hermione, Ginny." He smiled in greeting, messy hair rumpled. He gave Hermione a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "How was your meeting?"

Hermione busied herself making Harry a cup of tea, and set it down in front of him before telling of her meeting with Blaise. Harry too seemed pleased, though did not make the same suggestions as Ginny regarding falling in love.

"Look, Hermione. What I really came over here to talk about is Ron." Harry said eventually.

"Ron?"

"You two haven't spoken properly since we heard about this! He misses you and is horribly nervous about his meeting tomorrow!"

"I miss him too!" Hermione exclaimed. "I'll go and see him right now, shall I?"

Harry smiled in relief. "That's exactly what I was hoping you'd do."

"Right. See you both later then." Hermione walked quickly over to the fireplace, and grabbing some powder from the pot on the mantel, threw it into the fire.

"The burrow!" she shouted, stepping into the flames. She was immediately sent spinning through the little green licks of fire, her eyes watering a little.

Emerging from the fireplace in the burrow with soot on her face and her hair all a frizz, it suddenly occurred to Hermione that she should have done something with her appearance upon seeing Ron. She quickly tried to scrub her face clean and ran her hands through her hair.

"Hermione?" Came Ron's surprised voice as he walked into the sitting room. She quickly stopped trying to smooth out her jacket. He smiled. "You know you don't need to do that for me."

She blushed slightly, and quickly stepped forward into his arms. He smelled exactly as he always had, and his body was comforting warmth. "It's good to see you." She said.

"I only saw you yesterday." He grinned at her, but wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

They sat down on the couch together, and she took his hand. "I had my meeting with Blaise today."

He stiffened slightly. "How was it?"

"It was... Okay. Much better than I expected..." she sighed. "I wish this wasn't happening Ron." She burrowed her face in his neck.

"Me too." Came his clumsy but affectionate reply. "I'll still live you after you're married to him."

"I'll still love you too." To her horror, her eyes had started to water and she sniffed slightly.

"Hermione, don't cry." He cuddled her into his arms.

"Maybe…" he started. "Maybe we shouldn't see each other anymore."

She looked at him in shock, and he quickly amended his statement. "I mean, still see each other, yes… But just as friends."

She stared at him in surprise. "I just… This is hard for me, Hermione. And I can't just watch you marry someone else. I have to break away to get used to the idea." He mumbled.

She had never before seen Ron so mature, and it made her sad that she wouldn't get to experience this side of him again. "I understand." She slipped out from under his arm. "I'll go."

"I'm sorry." He said miserably.

"Me too." She whispered.

They kissed once, and then she got up, heart heavy and aching, and stepped back through the fireplace.

XXXXXX

Hermione's alarm clock buzzed at 8.30, causing her to fumble wildly around her bedside table, before finding the 'off' button.

Sighing, she slumped back down in her bed, still tired from a night of a little sleep. She had cried a lot, thinking of Ron, and then she had dreamed of Blaise suddenly turning into Bellatrix and cursing her and she moved into his house. Hence, not a good night for her.

Reluctantly, she pushed back the covers and slipped to the ground, stepping over to her curtains and pushing them open to see a gloomy day looming. "Fantastic." She muttered.

Lumbering downstairs she put the kettle on and cracked some eggs into a frying pan.

By the time Ginny came downstairs; her hair a brilliant red cloud above her head, Hermione had served up tea, beacon and eggs, and toast onto two plates.

"Thanks H'mione," Ginny mumbled sleepily, cutting her toast.

"I'm going to see Blaise's apartment today." Hermione told her once they had finished breakfast. "He wants us to live there."

"Oh!" Ginny exclaimed. "So you'd be moving out."

"This apartment wouldn't fit three people Gin, let alone four." Hermione said sadly. "But think of the bright side. You and Dean can live here!"

"Are you sure Hermione?"

The brunette nodded. "Besides, I get the feeling Blaise is used to the best. I doubt he'd like it here."

Ginny nodded. "True."

"I wonder how Ron's meeting will go." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Estella is lovely, I'm sure Ron will like her!" Ginny said brightly. "Oh… sorry." She patted Hermione's hand.

"It's okay." She smiled weakly. "Well, I'd best go and get ready."

She trudged upstairs and picked through her closet, eventually deciding on blue jeans and a camel coloured trench coat. It was nothing dressy but one of her favourite outfits.

Quickly brushing her hair and casting a de-tangling charm on It, Hermione cast a quick glance in the mirror before rushing back into the living room. Ginny grinned at her. "Nervous?"

"No!"

"Dean is coming over this afternoon." Ginny told her suddenly. "I thought we should get to know each other a bit… again."

"Really?" Hermione was surprised.

Ginny was spared answering by the fireplace lighting up with a green glow and then a figure emerging.

Blaise straightened up and gave Hermione a grin. "Morning Granger!" Looking around the room, he spotted Ginny. "Hello Weasley." He smirked.

Ginny, whose hair was still everywhere, and who was in her pyjamas, went bright red. "Zabini." She muttered irritably, before getting up and practically storming off.

Hermione stared after her in amazement.

"Shall we go then?" asked Blaise, still smirking.

"Yes, of course." She said, taking his arm so they could apparate.

Blaise twisted on the spot, taking Hermione with him. She had the sensation of being sucked through a very tiny tube, and an airtight one at that.

When they emerged from the 'tube', Hermione found herself standing next to Blaise in front of a very tall building. "Where are we?" she asked curiously.

"Right around the corner from diagon alley!" Blaise informed her.

Hermione gaped. Living right near Diagon Alley was so expensive that only the richest wizards could afford it.

Blaise noticed her shock and winked smugly. "That's right Granger. You're going to be living in style from now on. My wealth is just one of my many attributes."

Hermione huffed at this. "Let's just go inside."

He grinned. "As you like."

He led her inside the building, where it was even more fabulous. The lobby floor seemed to be made of marble, and the furniture and walls of a deep rich mahogany. A fountain decorated with silver statues of fauns and mermaids was situated in the middle. There were a couple of red, velvety couches scattered here and there, and over at the far wall, two elevators.

Blaise took her over to it, and when they stepped inside, pressed the 'PH' button.

"You live in the penthouse?" she gasped.

Blaise was getting smugger by the second. She resolved to contain herself from that moment, lest his head grow too large.

Yet, when the lift doors opened, she had to stop herself from exclaiming.

The floor was again, made of marble, and they appeared to be standing in a large living room.

The walls were a deep, burnished sliver, and a few artful pieces or paintings were placed on the walls. Right in from of her was a long, sleek black sofa, and circled around it some matching armchairs, a coffee table in-between them. Over in the corner was a massive fireplace with a couple of bookshelves either side, and an armchair opposite it.

Looking further down the room, there was a large square dining table, with fabulously upholstered dining chairs, and large candlestick holders sitting on the surface. A chandelier dangled from above.

Beyond even that was a kitchen. It was rather tiny in size compared with the rest of the room, just three counters and a stovetop, with a largish pantry. A small door led off the kitchen, to the bathroom Hermione supposed.

There was a curving spiral staircase near the fireplace too, going up to a second floor.

Lastly, Hermione noticed with shock, the flat screen TV sitting near the black sofa, previously overlooked.

"Oh my god." She muttered.

Blaise laughed. "What more could you want, dear wife?" He put a friendly arm around her shoulders. "Let me show you upstairs."

They climbed the wooden staircase, which led to a spacious sitting room, complete with many more bookshelves, another fireplace, squashy couches, and vases of flowers, with large windows that showed off the view of London.

Leading off the sitting room were 5 doors. "Three bedrooms, a bathroom and an office." He grinned. "But the bathroom and the office are very large, so don't worry about the whole 'sharing' thing."

He opened one of the doors to a bedroom. A large, four poster bed sat in the corner, and there was a fireplace and a candelabrum. Other than that, the room was bare. "This was my roommate's room." Blaise commented. "But he moved out, and as it has the best view, I thought you'd like it."

"Oh. Thank you." She smiled shyly.

Next, he showed her his room, making several dirty jokes in the process, and then the third bedroom, which was smaller. Not that Hermione would have minded staying in there; she didn't need all the extra room!

The office and the bathroom were both large, with the office having shelves and shelves of books, and two huge desks, and the bathroom containing a bath the size of the prefect's at Hogwarts.

Hermione and Blaise then retreated downstairs, where Hermione sank into one of the sofas. "It's just so big." She said finally. "I don't need all this room!"

"You'll get used to it." He told her frankly. "So would you move in here? Because frankly, I don't fancy your apartment."

"Well yes, I suppose I would." She laughed. "This is really quite amazing."

Normally Hermione didn't care the slightest for material things, and as said before, would have been perfectly fine with a normal sized apartment. But she couldn't help but think that trying it out in this massive one would be just a bit of fun.

"Excellent. Shall we say next week? That'll give you time to box up all your things, and I'll tidy the house."

"I-" She paused, startled. This was all happening way too fast for her. Sure, it was fun to play house and act like this was all a social hotel trip, but this was really happening. She was really going to have to marry this man standing next to her, be with him for the rest of her life, have his children, kiss him, love him… Suddenly it was too much and she felt tears well up in her eyes. She was leaving Ginny, Harry and Ron, who she loved, and venturing into the unknown, by herself.

"Hey, it's okay." Blaise sank down beside her, and put his arm around her. "Don't cry." This only made her think of Ron. She cried harder.

"This is all just… so much."

"I know." Blaise muttered, his playful smile vanishing. "But don't be sad, Granger. We'll be friends, we'll be great friends. It'll be like one big holiday here, I promise. And you can see potter and the Weasley family whenever you want, invite them over here, merlin knows there's room. This marriage doesn't have to be scary." He looked at her in concern.

"Doesn't it bother you?" she mumbled.

"Of course it does." He said easily. "But we're not worrying about me right now. The point is, I meant what I said yesterday. No need to be scared of me. I'm not going to force you to do anything, you know…. We'll be friends."

She managed a smile. "Yeah."

"Wonderful, now I'll take you home. Back to Ginny. She can make you some tea."

He handed her a pot of floo powder and she stepped into the flames, shouting out her apartment address. Moments later she stepped out, slightly sooty, only to see Ginny and Dean Thomas, sitting on the couch kissing passionately.

Hermione looked away awkwardly, but Blaise stepped through the flames as she did so, and caught sight of the two of them. Hermione expected him to make some sort of dirty joke, but instead he gritted his teeth.

Hermione cleared her throat loudly, and Ginny broke away from Dean.

"Oh… Hi, Hermione! Sorry." Ginny said, but her eyes were on Blaise.

"Hey Hermione." Dean said easily, smiling. "Good to see you!"

"You too Dean." She smiled back.

"I'll see you next week Granger." Blaise muttered, ducking back into the flames and saying his address, quickly disappearing.

"-Be going." Dean was saying to Ginny. "I imagine you'll want to catch up with Hermione now. See you tomorrow at the meeting." He gave Hermione a friendly wave, then left the apartment the muggle way.

"Well… That was awkward." Said Ginny casually.

Hermione narrowed her eye slightly.

A/N Hello my dears, another chapter done!

I'm sorry in advance if I don't update this super quickly, I've just gotten a full time job so my writing time is extremely limited. I am doing my best though.

And yes, I KNOW. There's no Draco yet so the story isn't worth reading in the slightest, but you will all have to bear with me till he arrives. Which isn't till chapter six, I THINK.

Please, please review.

Lissa


	4. Moving onwards

Story: Act number 2715

Author: LadyLissaLight

Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!

**Hermione sipped her tea and** nodded attentively as Ginny described her meeting and then lunch date with Dean, internally rolling her eyes. Seeing Dean had again seemed to transform Ginny back into the girl she had been in her fifth year of school, and now she was telling Hermione about their coffee – for the fifth time.

Thankfully, before Ginny had got to the bit where she and Dean had kissed, Harry and Ron showed up. The four of them had agreed to meet up for lunch every Monday, despite what they were doing or who they were with. With her brother and ex-boyfriend arriving, Ginny quietened down about Dean and picked up her menu.

Hermione looked at Ron, who she hadn't seen since last week on Tuesday. She was moving into Blaise's in two days, and she hadn't even heard how Ron's meeting had gone. Harry had popped by the apartment a couple of times, but had said nothing about Ron. It was probably for the best, Hermione admitted. It wouldn't do to dwell.

"Hello," she greeted them, smiling. "How are you?"

"Good." They answered in unison and sat down.

Hermione picked up her menu and stared at the options. She would usually have chosen a proper meal, but her stomach didn't seem to feel much like food these days. She selected the Caesar salad, with lemonade when the waitress arrived at their table, bright red at serving 'the golden trio.'

Harry looked at her, concerned. "Hermione, you feeling alright?"

She nodded reassuringly. "I'm fine, Harry. Just not very hungry."

"It's true." Ginny put in, having ordered for herself a steak and kidney pudding. "She hardly ever eats at home anymore."

Harry gave her a worried glance, before turning back to the waitress and ordering sausages and potatoes.

Ron then as usual, chose a massive meal of sausages, eggs, bacon toast and steak.

"I think that's a breakfast option, Ron." Ginny objected.

"I-It's okay. He can have it." The waitress stammered.

Ron looked smugly at his sister.

Their lunch went smoothly, and talk was as it always had been between the three of them, as they munched on their food. Eventually Ginny asked, "Ron, you never told Hermione and I about your meeting, so how was it?"

Ron went bright red. "Er… It was fine. She seemed like a nice girl."

"Ooh Ron fancies her!" Ginny grinned.

Hermione felt a slight film of tears cover her eyes. She had missed Ron so much in the past week, and she still hated this arrangement. But it seemed like Ron was moving on just fine.

A hand squeezed hers under the table. She didn't have to look up to know it was Harry. She smiled weakly at him.

Ron eventually said "Ginny, shut up!" and his sister stopped her teasing.

Hermione, who had finished her salad, quickly stood up. "Bathroom." She said, hurrying away.

Inside the ladies room, she quickly wiped her eyes and composed herself, staring at her reflection in the mirror. _Stop it Hermione_, she said in her mind. _Ron is marrying this girl, and you are marrying Blaise. You should be making an effort to fall in love with your fiancée, instead of pining away for Ron. You are better than this._

She left the bathroom, pasting a wide smile on her face as she sat back down. The other three were now talking about one of Hermione's least favourite subjects, Quidditch. "I wonder if Blaise likes Quidditch." She wondered quietly. "I hope not."

She sat there, glancing around the street they were in, ignoring the talks of Quaffles, fouls and wronski feints beside her. She still enjoyed observing the wizarding community going about their business, no matter how long she had been a part of it, it still fascinated her.

She watched as a short witch dressed in flowery pink robes with bright red hair stepped out of eyelops owl emporium, carrying a massive eagle owl. She passed another witch, this one with blonde hair and large, luminescent glasses….

"Luna!" Hermione smiled, shooting up from her seat, eager to leave the Quidditch talk behind.

The pale blonde witch turned and looked at Hermione with her blue eyes, removing her spectrespecs. "Oh hello Hermione." She smiled pleasantly. "How are you?"

"I'm good. D'you fancy taking a walk around the block?"

Luna blinked, but smiled. "Wanting to clear your head from all the wrackspurts?"

"Er, yeah." Hermione agreed, hurrying away from the table. The other three didn't even notice her leaving, too busy engaged in a heavy argument over the chudley cannons latest failure.

She and Luna strolled through diagon alley at a leisurely pace, sometimes seeing people they knew by sight but not by name, and Hermione had the opportunity to ask Luna what she'd been doing since she left Hogwarts.

"I've been abroad." Luna told her, smiling happily. "Newt Scamander has taken me on as an apprentice."

"The author of fantastic beasts and where to find them! Wow, that's great Luna." Hermione congratulated.

"Thank you Hermione." Luna nodded. "So, you've been paired with Blaise Zabini, is that correct?"

Hermione stared at her. "How did you know?"

"Oh I saw you talking together the other day. How is that?"

"It's good… I guess. We're moving in together the day after tomorrow."

"Oh I see. What about Ron?"

"We broke up." Hermione murmured.

"It's for the best." Luna said surprisingly. "He isn't the best match for you."

"And you think Blaise is?"

"No." Luna answered, not troubling to reveal what she meant.

Hermione shook her head, confused at her friend's words. They had arrived back at the café at this point, and suddenly heard Ginny say ''hey, where did Hermione go?"

"I'd better go Luna. Unless you'd like to join?"

"No, no, I'm fine here. But thank you. Goodbye Hermione." Luna smiled dreamily and walked away.

Hermione sat back down at the table. "Sorry. Bathroom."

"Again?" Ron asked rudely. "What's wrong with you?"

Hermione blushed. "Don't be rude, Ron!"

"Anyway." Ginny stood up suddenly, grabbing Hermione's arm. "We have to be going. Buh Bye!" She hoisted Hermione up, without giving her a chance to say goodbye, and marched her off.

"Ginny! What was that about?"

"Harry told me that Ron doesn't like his match."

"When? You were talking about Quidditch!"

"Harry wrote it on a napkin during Ron's rant." Ginny flourished the napkin. "Tell Hermione Ron doesn't like Estella."

"Oh." Hermione didn't know whether to feel glad or sad. After all, it wasn't as if it mattered. "But why was he blushing?"

"Apparently they got into an argument at the appointment! He just didn't want to say anything in front of you, because you're getting along with Blaise."

Hermione felt stunned. "Ron really is making an effort." She muttered.

"He loves you, Hermione." Ginny shook her head. "I wonder how many other couples have been split up buy this stupid stupid law." She kicked the dirt in front of them.

"Like you and Harry perhaps?" Hermione questioned.

"Me and Harry?" Ginny gave her such a startled look that hat Hermione knew she wasn't faking her surprise.

"Yeah. I mean you two were in love."

Ginny snorted. "No we weren't. We thought we were. The war changed that. Harry left me." Suddenly, she stopped talking, before starting up again in a very different fashion. "SO, did I tell you Dean's gotten way better at kissing?"

Hermione shook her head. She wondered what was going on with her friend. She did know though that Ginny wouldn't talk about things until she was ready, and pushing her did no good, so she left the matter alone.

As they passed the muggle entrance to the ministry of magic, Hermione realised her boss might not have been notified of her two months off period, and saw the chance to try and get out of it. She refused to take that long off, just to 'get to know' Blaise! She would not spend every day just sitting there watching the telly or talking to him. She loved her job, even though she'd only been there for a couple of months, as before that she'd travelled around Australia with her parents.

She stopped suddenly. "Oh dear."

"What is it?" Ginny asked, also stopping.

"I haven't told my parents about this!" Hermione groaned, hitting herself on the head. "How am I supposed to explain this to them?"

"Don't tell them?" Ginny suggested

"What, and then not invite them to my wedding? Or when they come and visit me, say 'sorry, Hermione lives with her husband now'. I can't do that to them!" Hermione sighed. "I'll have to go and see them. I better do it today because tomorrow I'm packing and finalising everything, and then the day after I'm moving!"

Ginny nodded. "Do you want me to come? Your parents love me."

Hermione shook her head, "thanks, but they'll need to get out their disappointment properly, and won 't be able to do it with a guest there."

Ginny nodded. "Okay then, I'll see you at home."

The two girls parted, and Hermione decided she might as well go into her work while she was there, before she visited her parents.

She took the usual route through the toilets to get into the big atrium, where the fountain that had once displayed hideous statues of a witch, wizard, house elf, goblin and centaur, had been replaced with a silver fountain of regular origin, with a mermaid in the centre. The water spouted out from her tail, and Hermione thought that although she looked a lot kinder than merpeople really did, it was a big improvement.

She walked briskly through the bustling crowds of her fellow ministry workers and visitors alike, over to the elevators. When she entered the box, she came face to face with a co-worker.

"Hermione! Hello there." A girl with a rather pointy nose, high cheekbones and smallish blue eyes smiled thinly at Hermione. Her brown hair was stick straight and pushed back with a thin blue headband.

"Hello Jan." Hermione smiled stiffly back. She had never been the best at the 'I hate you but I'm going to pretend we're close friends' thing. She had slightly attempted it in sixth year with Lavender, but that had failed miserably. Jan was a fellow trainee in magical law, and had made it perfectly clear that she thought Hermione overrated from the moment they'd met.

"How ARE you dear? I heard the matching letters were released a week ago!" Jan smiled at her. As a half blood, she didn't have to be matched, and therefore wouldn't need to take time off, meaning she would soon be ahead of Hermione in their department, which she hated.

"Yes."

"I dare say you aren't revealing your match to the press?"

"No."

"Quite right too! Keeping it all between friends…" she trailed off.

Hermione smiled primly, realising what the other girl wanted. "Yes. Harry, Ron and Ginny are very good at keeping secrets."

The doors opened on their floor and Hermione marched out, leaving the other girl hanging. She made her way to her boss' office, and rapped smartly on the door.

Katherine was head of the department, a middle aged witch with short blonde hair and severe features. She was brisk, fair and no nonsense. Hermione was reminded rather strongly of Professor McGonagall the first time she had met her, and had since begun to respect the similar qualities her boss had.

"Granger." The older woman opened the door and scowled at her. "You aren't rostered on for the next two months."

Hermione paused, unsure of how to continue now that she knew her boss was aware of the break she was supposed to be taking. A sudden smile appeared on Katherine's face, and she nodded. "You're here to request I keep you on and not have you off on leave."

Hermione nodded hesitantly. Katherine's frown deepened. "Well. It would be against protocol. But… I suppose we could squeeze you in for two days a week, maybe. Two days, you hear me Granger? No more than that."

"Thank you Katherine!" Hermione beamed. Two days was so much better than nothing. Besides, that meant she could take plenty of extra work home with her to do on her days off!

She left the office five minutes later with a pleased smile on her face, and feeling more in control of her life than she had for the past month. Maybe her parents would take the news well,. And her day would improve drastically?

XXXXXX

"You what?" David Granger demanded, while Jean sank into a chair, her face pale and her hand pressed to her heart.

"My darling girl." She murmured.

"Yes mum, dad, I know it's a lot to take in. But don't worry, I've convinced my boss to still let me work, when I'm supposed to be having two months off!"

"Well that's more like it." David nodded.

"But an arranged marriage…" Jean muttered. "It's so old!"

"You know the wizarding world isn't as modern as us, mum." Hermione reminded her. "It's fine, really. Blaise is really funny and smart."

"What's he studying, then?" her mother asked, polishing her glasses.

"Er…" Hermione realised she had no idea what Blaise did. "He works in the business industry, with the ministry." She improvised, picking two likely careers.

"I see." Her father raised his eyebrows. "And what is he like?"

"He's… rich." Was the only thing she could think of.

"Hermione! We did not raise you to care about money! We are far more concerned with his characteristics."

"I don't know them!" she said, frustrated. "I've only spoken to him twice!"

She winced.

"TWICE?" Her mother and father exclaimed in unison.

Hermione nodded. "I'm sorry, mum, dad! But this isn't my choice. I'm not going to disobey the law. And Ginny knows Blaise." She half lied. She really had no idea about those two. "And he was in my year at school."

"A Slytherin. You're sure he didn't tease you?"

"He didn't." she said firmly.

"Well I suppose there isn't much for us to say, is there?" Her mother asked with pursed lips. "It's going to happen whether we give our approval or not." She got up and walked out of the room.

Her father seemed to lose all his anger as his wife left, and he sat down heavily. "WE JUST WANT WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU, Hermione." He said quietly. "We always wanted you to marry a wonderful man who was good enough for you. And your mother wanted him to be… well..."

"A muggle." Hermione said flatly. She knew this from her mother's not so subtle hints.

"Yes. And now this has happened, and we're losing our little girl so quickly." He sighed.

"I'll still come and visit you!" Hermione exclaimed. "It'll be the same as if I'm living with Ginny! And Blaise and I won't be getting married for a year. You and mum will have plenty of time to adjust."

He nodded wearily. "I'd better go and see how she is." He stood up. "Will you stay for tea?"

Hermione shook her head sadly. "I've got to keep packing."

Her father kissed her forehead. "We'll see you soon I hope."

"Of course, dad." She hugged him tightly. "Tell mum I'm sorry."

"She'll come around." He stroked her hair then laughed sadly. "Ah well, you'd better be off then. Goodnight Hermione."

Hermione's relationship with her parents hadn't been the same since they'd had their memories restored. They'd been angry and hurt, her mother had cried more than Hermione had ever seen her cry before, and her father had just been completely silent. It had taken a month of strained talks and mostly quiet before the family began to renew itself and mend the hurt feelings, and Hermione had felt like it was still mending. Now, with this new occurrence in her life, she felt like the rift between her and her parents was only getting bigger and bigger and eventually, she wouldn't be able to close it.

Apparating home, Hermione made herself some hot chocolate and sat down on her couch with crookshanks in her lap, feeling worse than before. She hated the wizengamot for creating this law, it had torn her life completely apart, and he knew she wasn't the only one. She knew there would be much more discontent with the rest of society than just her. If only they could do something about it! But there was no repealing a wizengamot ruling when all the members had voted yes.

Sometimes Hermione wished she was still at Hogwarts, when studying was the main thing on her mind. Apart from defeating Lord Voldemort that was. But what was the point in fighting for a free society, when they had been cast into 'oppression' by their own people?

XXXXXX

Hermione stared at her now former bedroom. All her things had been boxed up and her room now seemed small and empty, it's pale orange walls faded and lonely looking.

Ginny stood beside her, a scowl etched on her face. Ginny Weasley did not cry, she scowled. Hermione had told her that she was going to have a frown line by the time she was twenty, but Ginny didn't care.

"You should stay. Blaise can share your room and you can, I dunno, put an undetectable extension charm on the room so it's bigger and will suit his majesty."

Hermione laughed. "Or I could sneak you and Dean into the third bedroom. Honestly Blaise's apartment would fit five or six people, and he lives there alone! Apparently he used to have roommate but they left."

"Probably couldn't stand the way he spends an hour doing his hair in the morning." Ginny snorted.

Hermione glanced at her sideways. "How-"

Ginny coughed. "Anyway. Let's get this stuff downstairs."

She quickly waved her wand and several boxes floated into the air. She left the room, boxes following her, leaving Hermione extremely confused.

She levitated the remaining boxes and followed Ginny down into the living room, where the other girl was perched on the sofa, drinking the remains of a cup of tea.

"How are you going to get everything to his place?" Ginny wondered.

The flames turned green before Hermione could answer, and a second later Blaise spun out of the fireplace, not a hair out of place.

"Ladies, good morning." He announced, smirking at Ginny. She scowled, and he continued. "Let's get shrinking, shall we?"

"Shrinking?" Echoed Hermione.

"Yeah. Shrink the boxes, slip 'em in the pockets and voila! No hard work."

"Brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed, not having thought of it herself.

She and Blaise immediately performed shrinking charms, and then Blaise said to her "say your goodbyes then, I'll take this ahead. Come when you're ready." He stepped back into the fire and shouted his address.

Hermione and Ginny looked at each other. Hermione stepped forwards and flung her arms around Ginny, and her friend gave a sad sigh and hugged Hermione back tightly. They stood there for a minute, not saying anything, before breaking apart.

"Well. Goodbye then." Hermione said finally.

"Bye. Promise to visit me tomorrow." Ginny scowled.

Hermione laughed weakly. "Promise."

She waved, before turning and stepping into the fireplace, shouting out her new address.

Arriving at Blaise's – now hers as well – apartment, she looks around at the sitting room again, and was still amazed at its size.

"Right. Let's get you settled." Blaise appeared by her side. "It'll be nice to have company again. Someone to cook and clean for me…" He winked.

Hermione laughed and shook her head.

**A/N** Sorry if this has spelling mistakes and stuff. CBF fixing them right now, I'm half typing and half watching big bang theory, so if there is any, I'll fix them tomorrow.

Our favourite bad boy makes his debut next chapter ;)

Review!

Lissa


	5. Altercations

Story: Act number 2715

Author: LadyLissaLight

Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!

"**GRANGER!"**

**Hermione woke with a **start, opening her eyes blearily to see Blaise standing next to her bed, grinning.

"It's our one month anniversary!" He announced, still grinning.

She blinked, hardly comprehending what he was saying. "… You woke me up for that?" she grumbled eventually.

"Yeah! Come on Granger! I know you're excited. I even woke up early so I could tell you!"

Blaise was standing there, his hair still rumpled from sleep and wearing nothing but some olive green track pants. He was clearly being truthful in saying that he'd woken up early, because the two of them didn't usually get up until eight, and it was only 7.15.

She glared up at him. "Why did you really wake up early?"

He smirked. "I had a business floo call. You really are smart."

She rolled her eyes and sat up, swinging her legs out of bed. "Don't laugh." She snapped at Blaise, who was eyeing her morning hair with amusement.

"Well since it IS our one month anniversary, how about we go out for breakfast?" he suggested.

"Blaise, you know Estella and Ginny are coming over at 9!" she crossed her arms.

He grinned again. "Fine, fine." He retreated from her room, leaving her in a state of exasperation.

Blaise had been right when he said living with him would be like having a constant holiday. He kept her constantly entertained, and she had realised that although she hated the marriage law as much as ever, she was one of the luckier people. Blaise had quickly become a best friend to her, and she doubted many people were having such a positive relationship with their match.

She'd been living with him for a month that day. It didn't seem that long to her at all, her days passed quickly getting to know her future husband, spending time with Harry and Ginny, and working. Her job at the department of law enforcement was going swimmingly, her hard work earning her praise from her boss as well as sneers and petty smiles from her 'friend' Jan.

The one downside to her matching was that Hermione had yet to hear from her mother. Her father had sent her one letter, which was much less than his usual, but it was still something. Hermione and her mother had always had an undercurrent of unease when it came to magic. Her mother wasn't against it or anything and she loved that her daughter was special, as well as being extremely proud of all the classes that Hermione topped, but when it came to home and life jobs, Jean and Hermione's opinions differed.

Jean had told Hermione once, by accident, that she still expected Hermione to have a muggle husband and raise her family the ordinary way, as she called it. She also wanted Hermione to go to university and work in the muggle world as a teacher, which was what Hermione had wanted to become before she had been accepted into Hogwarts. Jean saw magic as something useful and exciting, but not something to base your life on.

Blaise didn't help this at all. In her letter to her parents Hermione had sent about her fiancé, she had mentioned his job description. Blaise was a co-owner in a two family run company that produced magical potions, books and dealt heavily with high ranking magical companies. Hermione knew that Jean would hate this, as Blaise's job was exciting and creative, but also very businesslike. Not exactly the type of thing her mother admired.

Blaise had offered Hermione a job at the company too, but she'd politely declined, although had taken up his offer of a tour. It was easy to see how Blaise was so rich, for his company was huge. If he had been a muggle, her mother would have thought him perfect: he was rich, kind, giving and gunny. Hermione too sometimes thought he had to be the perfect man, for he treated her with complete respect , always listened to her and yet, as she'd seen, made inappropriate jokes that she'd come to like. The only problem was that she didn't love him!

Ginny had fared pretty well with her matching too, from the way she told it. Her friend apparently loved living with Dean, and whenever she and Hermione met up, Ginny would talk about how much she liked him. Hermione didn't believe a word of it. She knew Ginny was glad she had been matched with Dean, and liked him as a person, but beyond that she knew she had no feelings for him.

When Hermione had first met Ron's match Estella, it had been completely by accident. She, Harry and Ginny had been waiting for Ron to come to their Monday lunch, when they'd overhead loud and angry voices coming from the alley next to their café.

"_- Do this every Monday! Can you not get that through your head? Every Monday!"_

"_Well you didn't tell me that did you? How are we supposed to be in a relationship if you don't tell me things?"_

"_We aren't in a relationship, woman! I don't want to be in a relationship with you! Why don't you go home and cook something?"_

_Harry, Ginny and Hermione all traded glances, knowing the sound of their friends voice._

_Rounding the corner, Ron came striding furiously out of the alley, followed by a short blonde itch whose eyes were sparkling with anger. "Don't you dare walk away from me! I don't care if you have lunch with your friends, I-" She stopped abruptly, her eyes landing on the three sitting at the table._

_Ron also spotted them and grinned ruefully. "hullo," he said._

"_Hi Ron," Hermione smiled, ready to smack him one for being so rude to the girl._

_The blonde witch blushed. "Hi. I'm Estella. Oh, hey Ginny!"_

"_Hi," Ginny said coolly, glaring at Ron._

"_I'm Harry." Offered Harry._

"_Hermione." She put forward._

_She noticed that Estella's eyes had seemed to narrow as she looked over the competition for Ron, as she probably saw it._

"_Yeah, Estella has to go now." Ron muttered. "Bye." He didn't look at her._

_Estella looked so hurt and angry that Hermione said impulsively, "Why doesn't Estella join us for lunch?"_

"_I don't see Dean or Zabini here." Ron said grouchily._

"_That's because we all already know Dean and Blaise." Hermione pointed out._

"_Fine." Ron snapped._

_Estella sat down in-between Ron and Harry. Harry was next to Hermione and Hermione next to Ginny, leaving Ginny nest to Ron._

"_So!" Ginny grinned. "Tell us about yourself."_

To everyone's surprise, the three girls had hit it right off, and now often spent time together, especially when they were feeling the pressure of their matches.

Estella and Ron, for example, didn't get along at all. Estella, from what she told them, had tried to make it work continuously, but Ron had refused and been completely obnoxious towards her, even when they moved into her flat. They barely spoke and when they did it was usually for Ron to ask for food.

She had explained to Hermione that she had felt jealous of her, because she knew that Ron's relationship was Hermione was the reason he refused to even be civil with her. "I know now that it isn't your fault and that you aren't encouraging him, but I just know he still l-cares for you." She had said once to Hermione.

However, it seemed to Hermione the complete opposite. Whenever Ron spoke about Estella he seemed to force happiness, and was always telling her about the fun things that they'd done. Hermione took this as similar to the time where Ron had pretended he liked Estella after his meeting just to show Hermione he was getting over her. She felt this wasn't necessary, but hadn't mentioned it to Ron for fear of embarrassing him.

Ron was also having trouble getting along with Blaise, and was always making nasty comments whenever he was around. This then led to Hermione trying to stay away from Ron whenever Blaise was around, and so little by little, Ron was becoming a lesser presence in her life.

That day when Estella and Ginny came over to Hermione and Blaise's flat, Estella was looking particularly glum. "What's wrong?" Ginny asked her.

"Ron." The short witch mumbled.

Hermione and Ginny exchanged exasperated looks, both of them sick of Ron's behaviour. "What now?"

"There were these witches wanting his autography… and so he invited them into our apartment for a drink!" Estella burst into tears.

"What!" Hermione stood up. "We're going over there right now."

Ginny nodded furiously. "Ask Hermione how this feels, she knows. And she actually had feelings for him when it happened to her."

The three of them walked briskly out of the apartment and down the road towards Estella's apartment, which wasn't far away, Hermione explaining the Lavender incident in sixth year.

By the time they arrived at the blonde witches flat, Estella was looking much cheerier, but Ginny was looking much more pissed off.

In the end, she blasted open the door to the apartment, apologising to Estella, and strode into the room, looking furious.

And there Ron sat on the couch with a couple of fire whisky bottles and three witches laughing at something he'd said. When, however, Ron spotted the trip of his ex, his sister and his fiancée, he sat up straight.

"Hello." He muttered.

"More to join the party!" Cried a curvy blonde witch.

"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY. You clean this up IMMEDIATELY, and get these skanks out of ESTALLA'S apartment." Ginny shrieked.

The curvy blonde witch stood up. "And who is Estella?" she asked, frowning.

"RON'S FIANCE" screeched Ginny.

"Now get out, all of you." Hermione snapped "I'll know if you ever come back again."

The witches hurriedly set down their drinks and left the building, not even closing the door behind them.

Ron stood up too, blushing. "I-"

"Ginny, Estella, would you mind giving Ron and I some space to talk?" Hermione asked, her narrowed eyes fixed on Ron.

The two girls left the room quietly, Ginny making threatening faces, leaving Ron cowering in front of Hermione.

Hermione sat down on the couch, crossing her arms. "Sit. Now."

Ron sat.

"Why are you treating Estella like this?"

When he didn't answer, she continued. "I know that your relationship isn't as happy as you make it out to be, that you don't occasionally have fights. While you've been telling me lovely stories, I've been getting the real version from Estella, who is nearly always in tears over you. Are you lying to me, or doing this because you still love me? Or because you're trying to make me jealous? Because if you are, then you need to stop. You broke it off, Ron and it was incredibly mature of you, but now I see you trying to hurt Estella in every possible way. We can't be together, and I've tried to move on, you should too, and stop holding onto us. Stop treating Estella so badly. I think it might be a good idea for us to not see each other again until you show a bit more maturity like you did last month." She stood up. "Goodbye."

XXXXXX

Blaise re-read the letter in his hands for what seemed like the hundredth time and sighed. Hermione was not going to like this one bit.

He had thought that maybe he had a while left, but this was a lot sooner than he thought. And he couldn't exactly say no!

The elevator made the dinging noise it always did when someone arrived and he closed up his letter.

Ginny Weasley stormed through the doors into his apartment, and stared rudely at him as he watched her. "What are you looking at?"

"Just your enchanting beauty." He smirked.

She scowled heavily. "Piss off."

"But, my love-"

Her expression froze in place before she turned away, to the previously unnoticed blonde witch who had followed her through the elevator. Too late, Blaise cursed his words.

"Men." Ginny fumed. "First there is my idiot brother. Can you believe he did that to you?"

"I wonder what Hermione is saying to him." The other girl said pensively.

"Hopefully she isn't saying anything. She should be cursing his bits off."

Blaise resisted the urge to laugh. "What has the poor sod done?"

Apparently it was the wrong thing to say. Ginny stiffened and turned back to him, eyes full of rage. "Let's see. Poor Estella had to put up with Ronald inviting some witches into their home to drink firewhisky and flirt."

He understood the passionate anger in her eyes now. She wasn't angry at Ron. Not really.

"So yes, the 'poor sod' is trying to be as cruel as possible to poor Estella, who does nothing but try and care for him." She stared at Blaise for a second, before getting up off the couch and practically fleeing upstairs.

The blonde girl stared at him. "I don't know what you did, but I get the feeling she blames you for what Ron just did."

Blaise ran his hands through his hair and smacked a smirk on his face. "Red heads. Feisty ones, those."

She shook her head and scurried off after Weasley, leaving Blaise to hate himself.

Spotting his letter lying next to him, he pushed Ginny Weasley from his mind. That problem was irrelevant now, and how it turned out didn't really matter anymore. This, on the other hand, was right around the corner, and couldn't be delayed. It was also most likely to resolve in a very angry Hermione Granger. But again, it wasn't as if he could say no!

Blaise shook his head. "I need a drink."

XXXXXXX

"Hermione! What did he say?" Ginny cried.

"He didn't say anything. I talked. He listened. Suffice to say, I don't think Ron will be giving you too much trouble anymore, Stella."

"Thanks, Hermione." She smiled.

"So," Ginny suddenly said, changing the topic, "Guess what I gottttt!"

"What?" the other two asked in unison.

Ginny grinned and slipped her hand into her pocket to reveal a small velveteen box.

Estella gasped. "An engagement ring!"

Ginny nodded. "Dean proposed officially last night."

Hermione examined her facial features. She'd known Ginny since she was 11, and she always knew when the girl was lying, especially when it came to romance.

And though her friend was smiling, her eyes still seemed angry and… hurt?

Hermione frowned, but pretended to join in with Estella in expressing her joy and delight when Ginny opened the box to reveal a small diamond set in a silver band.

"I always was more of a gold girl, but who cares!" Ginny laughed.

The morning passed quickly with the four girls chatting away about nothing in particular, and then in the afternoon Hermione had to get ready to go into her work to pick up a case file she was working on, that she wanted to do some extra hours on at home.

Slipping on a sensible skirt and blouse, Hermione tidied her hair, said goodbye to her friends, and headed out of Blaise's apartment to the ministry.

Arriving at the work, Hermione encountered Jan and another girl that worked there, who was a couple of years older, named Megan.

"Hermione, darling, what ARE you doing here?" Jan asked.

"I'm just picking up my file for the Selwyn matter." Hermione smiled.

"Haven't got a ring yet I see?" Jan asked, peering at her finger. Megan frowned and nudged her.

"Hermione, a few of us were going out for drinks tomorrow night at the leaky cauldron. Care to join?" Megan asked in a friendly tone.

Hermione considered it. "That would be nice, actually! I'll be there."

"Great, it's at 6." Megan gave her a parting smile as she swept Jan away.

Hermione returned home to find Blaise gone. She settled herself down in the downstairs sitting room, and spread out all the necessary paperwork, getting ready for a few hours good work.

XXXXXX

Hermione was awoken by a loud beeping coming from her wand, and she opened her eyes immediately, sitting up and grabbing it. The beeping was the charm she'd set on her room that would tell her if anyone other than herself, Blaise, Ginny or Estella entered it.

Jumping out bed, she whirled around until she spotted a long shadow, right at the door.

She gasped as she realised it was a man standing there, in the doorway. But he didn't look angry or threatening. He looked like a mix of shock and horror.

"M-Malfoy?" She gasped, nearly dropping her wand. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here!" he said angrily.

A/N My god that was a bitch to write. I'm sorry I haven't updated, dears. I've just started my full time job and I can never be bothered writing because I'm so tired when I get home. Plus I kind of hate sitting here typing.

As with the last chapter, this one is probably full of mistakes, this time because my mother was watching her Simon and Garfunkel DVD extremely loudly behind me, and I'm dead tired, so concentrating was hard.

These first 5 chapters have just been the general build up, but now with Mr DM in the picture, the proper story can begin. Reviews are always appreciated, thankyou!

Lissa


	6. It's so on tonight

Story: Act number 2715

Author: LadyLissaLight

Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!

"**You – you what?" She gasped.**

"And what exactly are you doing here? In MY bedroom? Sleep with Blaise and get chucked in here did you?" He snarled.

"Blaise!" Hermione called frantically.

Her fiancé came stumbling into the room, looking half asleep, which was expected as it was only about 5 in the morning. When, however, he saw Hermione and Malfoy facing off, he shook off his sleepiness and appeared rather wary.

"Draco." He said, standing beside Hermione. "What are you doing here so early?"

"What!" Hermione shrieked. "You were expecting him! And what does he mean HIS bedroom?"

"Okay settle down. Draco, you've been away for a while, you need things explaining. Hermione, here take my dressing gown and lets all go into the sitting room."

She glance down and realised she was only wearing a short nightgown. Glaring at Blaise, she snatched his robe and donned it as she strode out of the room.

Once the three of them were seated, Blaise cleared his throat. "Okay, Hermione. Draco is my roommate. The one that moved to France a while ago. Draco, while you were gone… I don't suppose you read about Act 2175?"

The blonde nodded, "I did."

"Well. Hermione is my match," Blaise continued, and Malfoy looked appalled. "So yes, she lives here. And Hermione, I'm sorry I didn't tell you but Draco is back in London and as he half owns this place, I can't exactly tell him he can't move in."

"You gave her my room?" Malfoy asked rudely. "Well you'll have to give it back, Granger."

"I will not!" she sparked immediately. How dare this pompous prat come waltzing along and-

"Sorry Drake, but you'll have to take the other room." Blaise said, folding his arms.

Hermione smiled. "If you both don't mind, I'm going back to bed." She said haughtily then, not even wanting to comprehend living in the same place as Draco Malfoy until she had more sleep. "Night Blaise."

XXXXXX

A few hours later when Hermione Granger awoke, she thought to herself that her dreams that night had been completely ridiculous. I mean, Draco Malfoy? Living in this house? It was completely unfounded. Dreams were supposed to be based on things you were unconsciously thinking about. But Draco Malfoy? She hadn't thought about him since his trial and sentencing. Not that there had been a sentencing, really. He'd gotten community service. Lucius, however, would be in Azkaban for a long time. Narcissa had fared better than either of the men in her family, escaping any punishments and coming off with just a warning.

Hermione shook her head, clearing her thoughts of the Malfoy's. She had to get ready for work, and Blaise, strangely, seemed to be cooking something downstairs, because she could smell bacon.

Climbing out of her warm bed, she headed downstairs, calling "Blaise, since when did you -" before she came upon the strangest sight.

Draco Malfoy. In her kitchen. Cooking.

"You!" She gasped. "But I was dreaming!"

Draco Malfoy sneered at her. "No you weren't dreaming, Granger. Nor was I, unfortunately."

Hermione could only stare at him angrily, before plonking herself on the couch with a huff.

A few minutes passed in silence, and then both Hermione and Malfoy heard the thud of feet on the stairs. A second later, Blaise appeared his tired grin fading as he took in Malfoy's scowl and Hermione's crossed arms.

"Oh dear." He mumbled.

"Blaise. How could you not tell me that HE was moving back in?" Hermione demanded, standing up. "You didn't give me ANY warning."

"I'm sorry Hermione. I thought we had a while before he moved back in." Blaise said sheepishly.

"I would have never moved in here if I knew he would be here!" She screeched.

Malfoy snarled. "Don't get too upset, Granger, the feeling is mutual."

Hermione ignored him and continued to yell at Blaise. "I still have nightmares about him and his FAMILY. How could you do this to me Blaise? How could you? You have no idea what being near him does to me!"

She whirled around and raced back up the stairs, tears pricking at her eyelids. It was true, as soon as she had seen Draco Malfoy standing there, she had thought of _that_ night.

Shutting her door firmly, she took a few deep breaths. "I can't panic about this now." She told herself firmly. "I have to go to work. This can wait."

And so, ignoring the problem, Hermione took a shower and dressed in her work clothes, black pants and a blouse. She then did her hair, brushing it and casting a drying charm. Brushing on some makeup on her face, she then left her room, grabbing her bag as she went.

Arriving downstairs, she saw no sign of Blaise or Malfoy, thankfully. Hurrying to the fireplace, she quickly cast some floo powder in and went whooshing away to the ministry.

Arriving at work, Hermione felt her mind clear instantly. She breathed in the familiar smelling air and strode towards the elevator.

"Hermione, good to see you." Her boss nodded as she arrived. "You've got some mail for the Sturgess case on your desk, and you have an appointment at one with Mr Griffin. Don't let me down." She gave another swift nod and continued on her way.

Hermione called her thanks and settled down at her desk to begin her days work when she overheard Jan's voice.

"- Heard Draco Malfoy is back in the country! Didn't he get sentenced to something?"

"No." Said another voice. "He just got community service. And besides, why do you care he's back? How do you even know?"

"I care because he is so interesting! And he was seen at one of the international floos by a friend of mine. I wonder if he'll get a job here at the ministry?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. Great, Draco Malfoy had even followed her to work.

"…Interesting? The guy is supposed to be a jerk!"

"He is not!" Jan pouted. "I wonder where he is living."

At this point, Hermione couldn't resist a snort.

Jan rounded on her. "Yes, Hermione?"

"Nothing." Hermione muttered, returning to her file. She wondered what Jan would do if she found out that Malfoy was living with Hermione.

As Jan turned away, the other person who turned out to be Megan, said to her, "you still on for drinks, Hermione?"

"Definitely." Hermione smiled.

Megan grinned. "Great! Leaky cauldron at six, remember~!" she walked away, Jan traipsing after her.

Hermione smiled to herself, excited for that night. She didn't often go out, except for lunch, so this was something to look forward to.

XXXXXX

"Hey Hermione." Blaise said warily as she stepped out of the fireplace that afternoon. He was sitting on the couch and seemed to have been waiting for her to get home.

"Didn't you have work today?" she asked.

"I took it off early so we could talk when you got home." He replied, watching her take off her jacket.

"Well I don't have much time. I'm going to the Leaky tonight for drinks with the girls from work." She started up the stairs. Blaise got up and followed her.

"Look Hermione, I'm sorry. I really didn't think about what your reaction would be. Honestly." Blaise pushed his dark hair out of his yes worriedly. "Draco's just my best friend and we've lived together since school, bought this place and everything…"

"Since when were you two even friends?" she asked, stepping into the closet to find a suitable dress.

"After the war," Blaise said absentmindedly. "We just sort of hit it off. Then a month later we bought this place. We both wanted to get away from our homes."

"But he left?" She asked, selecting a dress and pulling it from its hanger before hunting around for earrings.

"Yeah. Narcissa wanted to go to France for a while, so he joined her to sort of reconnect their relationship."

"Hmm. That doesn't change things. I expected more of you Blaise." She stared at him, emerging from her closet.

"I know." He was quiet for a moment. "We can move out if you want."

She was surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, Drake's my best friend, but we're going to be married eventually, and if he is affecting you that much…"

Hermione sighed. "No, Blaise. Don't worry about it. I'll just… make do. It'll be fine. And really it's just B-Bellatrix I have nightmares about." She rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"Are you sure?" he looked at her, worry in his eyes.

"Yes." She smiled and gave him a hug, "Thank you for caring."

He wrapped his arms around her in response. "Any time. Let me know if it gets too much."

She nodded. "Now, out of my room. I've got to get ready."

Nearly an hour later, Hermione emerged from her room, ready to go.

She was wearing a dark blue dress that had a V-neck with frills decorating the neckline. It stopped three quarters down her thigh, and she'd used sleek ezy's and pushed her hair back with a silver headband. On her feet were matching silver heels.

"Blaise, how do I look?" She grinned.

Blaise made a show of looking her up and down. "Mm mm mm! Now that I wouldn't mind tapping!"

She laughed, slapping him lightly. "I'll see you later."

As Blaise's was just around the corner, Hermione had decided to walk rather than just flooing and messing up her hair.

She reached the Leaky Cauldron in minutes and entered to see Megan and two other girls she recognized by sight but not name sitting at a booth together. "Hermione!" Megan called. "Hey!" She smiled, waving her over.

"Hi!" Hermione grinned, sitting down next to her.

"This is Adele and Naomi." The other girl introduced and the four of them were soon chatting away merrily.

Jan arrived ten minutes later with her friend Alexis, and the girls began laughing and sipping their cocktails, exchanging jokes, stories and gossip.

XXXXXX

"Hermione, let's dance!" Naomi said to her as she finished her cocktail, pushing the glass away.

Hermione laughed "Ok!"

The two of them slid in amongst the crowd of dancing, grinding bodies and began to show off their dance moves. Naomi was soon dancing with a handsome man that looked a tad older than her, and Hermione was left to dance by herself for a while.

Getting tired, she left the mass of people and suddenly slammed into someone. Looking up, she felt her insides turn to ice.

"What, are you following me?" She hissed, slightly unsteady from her cocktails.

His blonde hair was mussed up and he was wearing a button down black shirt and jeans. His stormy eyes stared coolly at her. "Think again, Granger. Although what you are doing here is something I'd like to know. This isn't the library."

"Oh shut up." She said half-heartedly. "You know nothing. Screw you." Stalking away from him, she snatched up another cocktail and drank it quickly.

A few minutes later she spotted him again, sitting at a table in the corner with a girl that looked about their age. She had long blonde hair and was wearing a short dress. Hermione thought she looked familiar but was too tipsy to try and guess where she'd seen her before."

Hermione felt her eyes glue to the pair as the blonde traced Malfoy's chest and tilted her head away from him as he kissed her neck and ear.

She tore her eyes away quickly, suddenly feeling rather warm, as Malfoy broke away from the girl and glanced around. She didn't think he saw her but seeing him had put her off her night out.

Heading over to Megan, she said, "I'm calling it a night."

"Aw no! How come?"

Hermione gave her a shrug and a smile. "I'll see you on Monday."

"Okay!" The other girl gave her a friendly hug.

Hermione left the bar without casting another glance at Malfoy and his lady friend.

XXXXXX

Blaise sat lamely in front of his fireplace, bored out of his mind. Hermione was out, and so was Draco.

Hermione was worrying him. He'd had no idea that she still dreamed about that night she'd been tortured at Malfoy Manor. Much less that seeing Draco would make her blanch and run away like that.

He'd almost asked Draco to leave on the sport after Hermione had run off up the stairs that morning, and the only thing that had stopped him was the expression on his friend's face. He was deathly pale, looking almost haunted.

"Draco?" Blaise had said quietly.

His friend had turned without meeting his eyes and had walked away, out the front door, leaving Blaise to ponder how he was going to deal with the situation.

Now, home from work and having talked to Hermione but not having seen Draco, he only felt slightly better. She'd told him it was fine, but he had come to know Hermione well over the past month and he knew she would go out of her way to make others more comfortable, even if she was unhappy.

Blaise sighed. "I need a drink." He put down his book and was headed to the kitchen to find his favourite wine, when suddenly the fireplace turned green.

Startled as to who would be arriving at this time of night and cautious of the fact he wasn't dressed properly, not wearing a shirt, he pulled his wand out cautiously.

He was more than astounded when Ginny Weasley stepped out of the flames.

"Hermione?" She called, then stopped short at the sight of Blaise.

"Hello Weasley." Blaise smirked, eyeing her. She was dressed in a casual pair of jeans and a tank top, her red hair pulled back in a ponytail. She looked gorgeous.

"Oh… Hi." She muttered her eyes on his chest.

"Can I help you?" he asked, taking a step forward.

She averted her eyes. "No. I'm looking for Hermione."

"She's out. I'm here by myself."

She caught the obvious implication and scowled. "Don't even go there Zabini. You're not worth even a knut of my time."

Blaise slitted his eyes, actual annoyance seeping in. "Oh really? That's not what you were saying - "

"That was before I learned better." She glared at him. "Are you sure you're even alone? Hermione's out so I wouldn't be surprised if you had one of your little whores here."

"I would never hurt Hermione." Blaise snapped, offended. "And don't talk about what you don't understand, Red."

"Don't understand?" she asked, her voice raising an octave. "Oh I think I understand alright. What's not to understand? You and your trashy girls that sleep together -"

"You were nearly one of those girls, if you'll remember." He said suddenly, losing what little temper he had left.

Her mouth snapped shut, her face went pale and her eyes burned with hatred as she looked at him. There was a long silence, then-

BANG, the door flew open.

Both Ginny and Blaise turned, jumping.

Hermione laughed loudly. "Oops sorry! That was a bit loud – Gin, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing." Ginny shot Blaise a poisonous look. "I'd better be getting home to Dean."

She flipped her hair and strode towards the fireplace, leaving Blaise with a feeling of something burning in his stomach and something twisting his heart.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked worriedly, slumping on the couch as she watched him stare into the fireplace after Ginny.

"Nothing." He said absentmindedly. "Let's get you to bed."

**A/N** – Yeah, this is the part where I'd usually apologise for being so late and taking so fricking long, but thanks to a certain ANONYMOUS, and therefore cowardly, review, I'm in a pretty bad mood and nearly didn't upload this because I was so pissed off.

So, to you Emixhan – I find you rude and revolting. I don't want people like YOU reading my stories, so how about you just get lost? You have no idea what's been happening in my life. And also, how in the world does someone's ability to write prose depend on the TIMING of their updating? Ever heard of George R. R Martin? He wrote a Game of Thrones. He told his readers his next book would be published the year after, and it took his SIX years. So don't even TRY and go there. Seriously, get off my story and go away. So yes, I DO dare to call myself a writer.

So that's it guys. I couldn't even be bothered to spell check because I was in too much of a bad mood, so what you see is what you get. Chuck me a review if you feel like it.

Lissa


	7. Shacking up

Story: Act number 2715

Author: LadyLissaLight

Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!

**Blaise Zabini woke to the** smell of frying bacon. He rolled over and groaned, checking his watch. It was only 7.30 so the person downstairs couldn't be Hermione, not with what she'd drank last night.

Blaise yawned and got out of bed, deciding it was time he talked to Draco about this situation. Without getting dressed or changed, Blaise made his way down to the tiny kitchen.

Draco stood there in a baggy t-shirt and boxer shorts, frying bacon. "Dude, what's with the cooking?" Blaise asked by way of greeting.

Draco looked up, shrugging. "Mother and I took some cooking classes since our house elves were dismissed, plus the fact that you don't have any here."

Blaise took a seat at the counter. "I see." He pondered how start the next topic. "So, Granger's gotten pretty hot, hey?"

Draco snorted. "I was waiting for this. No, her presence does not make me happy but yes, I will put up with it. Is that what you wanted?"

Blaise scowled. "No. I want to know how you are."

Draco looked up, grey eyes narrowing. "I'm fine." He said shortly.

"Really? Because last time you weren't." Blaise pushed.

"Last time I _was_." Draco ground out, glaring at the bacon." "I just needed space. And now I'm back in your annoying shithole, I doubt I'm going to get it. Plus the whole place smells like girl." He grunted.

"I think it's nice." Blaise grinned. "Besides, as if you mind, you always had that little -"

"Shut up!" Draco snapped, ducking his head and now glaring at the counter. "That was like, first year."

"And second year… all the way up to fifth year, if I remember." Blaise said slyly.

"It was nothing." His friend scowled darkly. "How did you even know about that?"

"Anyone with an ounce of observation would have noticed. Which is probably why Pansy is still in the dark." At this, both men chuckled. "But seriously. Didn't you ever hear of 'boys pick on girls they like'?"

"No." Draco said shortly, flipping the bacon onto a plate and putting some more in the pan.

Blaise gave a dramatic sigh. "Fine, if you don't want to talk about it…"

"I saw her last night." Draco volunteered in a surly voice.

"Ooh you did?"

"Yep."

"Tell!"

"Nothing happened. We had a minor argument; she waltzed off to get drunk. I was there meeting Astoria, so…"

"Ah, how is the lovely Astoria?" Blaise asked.

"Apparently she's 'well'. That girl is always 'well'." Draco replied.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Too right she is. That girl would kill her own mother if society dictated it."

Draco nodded. "The only good thing about marrying her is I don't get subjected to this marriage law shit."

"Act 2715," Blaise corrected, grinning. "I wasn't happy about it either. But I think I got pretty lucky."

"How's that? She's irritating and prissy."

"She's also a good friend. I can think of a lot of people I'd be worse off wit. Hermione and I never fought or anything remember?"

The blonde nodded. "Well, good luck to you I suppose."

"Sure you're not a tad jealous?" Blaise winked.

Draco gave him such a glare that Blaise pretended to cower. "Okay okay!"

After a long pause, Draco said suddenly "I didn't know she had nightmares about…"

"Me either." Blaise said quietly. "It's worrying."

"I get them too." Draco muttered in a barely audible tone. "But how can I live here if…."

"I talked to her about it. She said she'd be fine."

"Well I'll be out of here soon enough, when Astoria and I get married in a few months."

"Oh yeah, when is that?" Blaise joked.

"September." Draco rolled his eyes. "That's when my parents were married and she wants our marriage to 'be as strong and everlasting as theirs'" he mocked.

"Ew." Blaise muttered.

"I know." Draco shook his head and they both laughed.

XXXXXX

"YOU WHAT?" Harry and Ginny exclaimed in unison.

"I know, I know! It's awful!" she buried her face in her hands.

"And Zabini didn't tell you? That filthy liar, tricking you into it." Harry spat angrily.

Ginny was silent for a moment. "Maybe Blaise didn't know?"

"He did. I suppose I'm not too angry with him. Draco IS his best friend and partially owns the house…"

"Yeah, but you two could've moved somewhere else!" Harry objected.

Ginny nodded. "Has he said anything to you yet?"

"Other than to get out of "his" room and telling me that the leaky cauldron isn't the library, no." Hermione replied, after thinking about it. "But it's only been a day."

"The leaky cauldron…" Ginny started.

"…isn't a library?" Harry ended, confused frowns on both their faces. "Maybe Malfoy's gone round the twist?"

"Oh!" Hermione laughed. "No, I was at the leaky cauldron the other night and ran into him. Apparently I'm not nearly cool enough to go out."

"I wonder who he's matched to!" Ginny said suddenly.

Hermione, who hadn't even thought about it, raised her eyebrows. "I've no idea. He was with a blonde the other night… But I can't imagine him getting close to a muggleborn."

"He's engaged already." Harry cut in. "That's why he isn't matched."

"And how do you know that Harry?" Grinned Ginny. "Been reading my mums witch weekly have you?"

Harry blushed slightly. "No. I heard someone in my department talking about it."

Ginny gave him a doubtful look, before turning back to Hermione. "Well at least he'll be out of yours soon enough, when he gets married."

"Yeah, but until then…" the three of them sighed.

XXXXXX

Draco Malfoy stared lazily into the fireplace, idly watching the dancing flames. He closed his eyes, tilting his head back slightly, and basked in its warmth.

It felt good to have a day like today, where he wasn't at work or with his mother. Where he could relax. Draco never relaxed much anymore, he had done so too much when he was younger and was now paying for it.

Unfortunately, disturbing Draco's peace and quietude, the flames turned green and a spinning body appeared. He curved his face into an irritated sneer as he recognized the person coming to a halt.

When they fell out of the fireplace in an uncouth manner, getting soot all over Blaise's Chinese rug, he fought the urge to step on them.

Instead he said loudly, "Weasel. Mind telling me what you're doing in my house?"

Ron Weasley, for that's who it was, leapt to his feet groggily at the sound of the voice. "Malfoy! What are you doing here! I thought you ran away to France."

Draco's eyes narrowed. "As you were too thick skulled to hear what I said before, this is my house."

"No it isn't!" Weasley said angrily, flaring immediately. Draco repressed a grin. This was going to be too much fun.

"Why yes… it is. Did you mistake it for your house Weasley? I don't see how, this place doesn't have dirt floors…"

Weasley reddened and withdrew his wand. "If you say one more word about -"

"Uh uh uh." Draco shook his head, pulling his own wand from its pocket, his movements lazy. "Don't you know how rude it is to threaten someone in their own home?"

"I don't believe you!" He roared. "Now tell me what you've done with Hermione or I'll curse you!"

"You, curse me?" Draco sniffed. "I'd be more worried for the vase over there. Its fifteenth century French made. Not that you would care Weasley, it's too above your tastes."

"I said tell me where Hermione is!"

"I have no idea as to the whereabouts of your long molared friend." Draco smirked. "Maybe she's retreated to the 'burrow'. Isn't that where animals like beavers and weasels live?"

"I'm going to kill you!" Ron Weasley launched himself at Draco.

Flicking his wand, Draco performed a silent petrificus totalus on the redhead, before standing up. "I warned you, Weasel." He said pleasantly.

Leaving him lying there, he went upstairs to find Granger, expecting to find her in the sitting room with a book.

And there she was, yet if he examined her closely, he could see she wasn't nearly the same Granger he'd taunted a few years ago.

For starters she was much thinner. He knew this was probably a result of 'being on the run' and getting cursed by his aunt. Her hair was just as tangled as ever, but she'd cut it shorter now, so it just touched her shoulders.

He also couldn't help noticing her legs were no longer awkwardly lanky, but smooth and long, and her chest… at that, he stopped himself short. So what if he'd had a small crush on her. That was YEARS ago, and it had meant nothing. So now was definitely not the time to ogle her.

He averted his eyes and coughed loudly. She looked up instantly, her eyes narrowing when she saw it was him.

"Yes?"

"Your friend Weasley is downstairs." He told her, surprised to say the least when she stiffened slightly, and a frown crossed her face. "He is also petrified."

"What!" she stood up, frown vanishing, and glared at him. "What did you do?"

"He attacked me." Draco drawled. "I was defending myself."

"You had no right to do that! How dare you taunt one of my guests and then cast a spell on him!" she snapped, her eyes bright with indignant anger.

"He started it." Draco sneered. "Why would I want to waste my time on such filth and low worth as Weasley...?"

"Shut up." She said, her voice dangerously low. "Shut up. Don't you say one thing about him. He is worth a million of you!"

"Oh yeah." Draco said maliciously, smirking. "I remember now, you two were shagging. How did that feel, getting broken up by the law?" He sniggered. "It was probably a good thing, after all. He'd had Brown in his bed, he would he want you after that?"

She looked as if he'd slapped her. "How dare you -" She began.

"I dare because I live here, I own this house and I will do whatever I like. Besides, it's true." He hissed.

"You're just jealous because Ron and I had a real relationship when all you have is an arranged marriage!" she snapped back.

He was taken slightly aback. He hadn't known she knew about that. "How did you know about that?" He asked, smirking. "Been reading up on me have you?"

"No!" She blushed. "Why would I do that?" She crushed her arms to her chest, glaring at him.

"Why wouldn't you? I am, after all, superior to you in every way."

"I was waiting for this!" She said furiously. "Just waiting for you to bring up my blood so you could shove it in my face. Did you learn nothing from the war?"

He hadn't meant her blood at all, actually. In fact, he hadn't even realised what he was saying. It wasn't as if he meant any of it anyway, he just liked getting a rise out of Granger. But he couldn't very well say that, could he?"

"You'd think after you watched your aunt torture me, after you'd seen my blood everywhere, you'd realise it's just the same as yours." She said quietly, stepping towards him. "It's exactly the same, yet you refuse to see it. I thought you'd changed for the better, Malfoy. You proved me wrong I guess." She shrugged, turning away from him and walking down the stairs to Weasley.

Draco just stood there, feeling his heart sink into his stomach.

What had he done now?

XXXXXX

"Ron!" Hermione said, crouching down over him and undoing the spell immediately.

He sat up, face red with anger. "I'm going to kill that prick!" He shouted.

"Calm down." Hermione said. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"Oh!" Ron quickly stood up. "I came to say I'm sorry. But also that I love you and I want to be with you." He mumbled. "Let's not go along with this stupid law. Let's run away somewhere until it gets taken down."

"What?" she gasped, shocked.

"Or we could just see each other behind the scenes?" he suggested. "Like when Zabini and Estella aren't around." He put his hands on her hips, drawing her forward.

"- Did you sleep with Lavender?" she blurted suddenly, unable to stop herself.

Ron's eyes widened. "What?"

"Did you sleep with Lavender Brown?" she demanded.

"I – No." Ron said guilty, looking down.

"I don't believe you." She said flatly "Get out."

"What!" he cried, ears red.

"I said get out. I'm not your whore Ronald; I am not going to sneak around with you behind Blaise's back. And I'm also going to tell Estella that you just propositioned me."

A very ugly look crossed Ron's face. "What? Shacking up with Malfoy and Zabini makes you too good for me?" His blue eyes glared at her. "I guess you're their whore then."

He turned around and stepped into the fireplace, shouting Estella's address.

And that was the moment Hermione realised she no longer loved Ron.

A/N – Not a very happy chappy - obviously. It gets better, but there won't be any Dramione for a while yet, and we are still very much in the early stages of this story, so there isn't very much plot yet I'm afraid. If it gets TOO boring, let me know and I'll try and step it up a notch.

Lissa


	8. More altercations

Story: Act number 2715

Author: LadyLissaLight

Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!

"**You said WHAT?" Blaise asked** in a disgusted tone.

"I didn't mean it as in her blood!" Draco cried in exasperation, resisting the urge to bang his head on the wall.

"Are you sure about that?" Blaise asked sceptically, not sounding impressed at all.

"Yes!"

"So what exactly did you say again?" Blaise asked, closing his eyes.

"Just that I was superior to her in every way." He mumbled.

"And why," said Blaise, "Would you say that anyway?"

At this, Draco was at a loss for words. "I -"

"I would have moved somewhere else if I'd known you were going to act like the twelve year old you." Blaise sighed, getting up.

Draco glared at him. "How dare you?"

"How dare YOU?" Blaise snapped. 'How dare you come back to this house when you said you were going to France for at least a year, then insult my fiancée, the one I'll be spending my life with? You treat her like she is shit, when god knows life has been tough enough for her lately!"

Draco stared at his friend, never having heard him speak this way before. "Do you actually…" he gestured.

Blaise swore, running his hands through his hair. "No! No I do not have "feelings" for her. No, I would not choose to marry her if I had an out, but she is my friend, Draco! And you will not treat her this way. Apologise."

Draco was about to sneer that he would never apologise to Hermione Granger, when she herself walked through the door.

"Good morning." She smiled at Blaise.

"Morning Hermione." He smiled back, before shooting a look at Draco, who scowled.

"Working today?" Blaise asked as she rummaged in the 'fridge' that Blaise had installed since Draco left.

"I sure am!" she said brightly, sitting down at the table with an apple, ignoring Draco. Her hair was done in a bouncy ponytail this morning and she was dressed in extremely baggy pyjamas.

"Me too." Blaise replied before looking at Draco. "So try not to trash the house while we're gone."

"Excuse me? I have work today too." He retorted.

Hermione Granger snorted. "The mighty Draco Malfoy has a job? What is it, counting money?" She glared at him. "Or finding ways for people to extort other wizards?"

Draco glanced at Blaise. "You expect me to put up with this?" he asked coolly.

"Yeah. I do." Blaise folded his arms.

"Well then Granger." He said, sneering his best sneer. "I suppose I will have to inform you that I work for Gringotts."

He expected surprise; instead he got a derisive laugh. "Oh so you do count money? How shocking!"

"Actually, I'm being trained as a curse breaker." He said coldly.

Even Blaise looked shocked. "What?" he asked. "Why didn't you say so?"

"However did YOU get such a position?"

"What, jealous of something else I have that you don't?" he asked spitefully. "I bet you're working in some magical creatures advocates group and getting paid almost nothing. Well get used to it, Granger."

Her mouth snapped shut and she stared angrily at him, her hand flying to her pocket. "How dare you insult me! I have had to put up with you for the last eight years of my life but I will not do it anymore! You are a foul, awful person with absolutely no soul! I'm sick of you looking down on me like I'm nothing! In fact I'd much rather be a mudblood then a pathetic excuse for a person like you and your family!"

Draco was on his feet in seconds, her words causing a torrent of anger and rage at her. He blindly reached for his wand, wanting to hurt her as much as possible, as much as she had hurt him. Curses and hexes flew into his head, but before he could shot anything, somebody else shouted "Protego!"

Draco glared at Blaise. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"Yeah Blaise, I've been waiting to curse this cockroach since second year!" Granger fumed, steam practically flying from her ears, her face red.

"Enough!" Blaise said, furious. "I half expected this from you, Draco, but Hermione, what happened to being the bigger person?"

She made to retort angrily, but then her expression faltered. Draco snorted. Gods, Granger was a pushover. Threaten her moral compass and she'd let you walk all over her like a doormat. He was not nearly so weak.

Looking satisfied in subduing Granger, Blaise turned to Draco. "I mean it. If you don't behave, you can't live here."

The humiliation and fury of being spoken to like this, like a child, in front of Granger, overwhelmed him. "I own half the house." He sneered, "So..."

"I will buy your share if I have to." Blaise said calmly. "Draco you are my best friend and Hermione you are my fiancé. I don't care HOW you do it, but get along."

With that, Blaise left the room, looking angry and disappointed.

A few seconds of silence passed. Draco glared at Granger, waiting for her to laugh at him for being scolded. She kept her eyes on the floor, looking meek and troubled though, until finally she looked up. The look on her face told Draco exactly what she was going to say, and he was having none of it.

"So," she began. "I think -"

"Don't start Granger." He said icily. "I will never be civil to you, so don't go there. Now run along and cuddle up to Blaise." He left the room in the same direction as the previous man, slamming the door behind him, anger clouding his brain. How did she even have the nerve to think they could be civil after what she'd just said?

He remembered the Blaise of the old days, before they'd become close friends. The Blaise at Hogwarts. That Blaise had always been the one chasing various girls in Slytherin and had kept the other Slytherin boys vastly entertained with many stories. Blaise had been the funny, light-hearted, casual one next to Draco's constant iciness and seriousness. Many a time Blaise had encouraged Draco to join in his revelry, drinking and 'whoring' but Draco had never been a cheerful person, had never liked parties, and hadn't shown much interest in girls.

Besides, there had always been Pansy to think about. His 'girlfriend'. He had always just supposed he had feelings for her, only to discover, eventually, that he really didn't. Then came the betrothal to Astoria, which he felt little to nothing about. It was what was expected of him but he didn't particularly like the girl. He had tried many times to spark an actual conversation with her, but it seemed everything she did was to impress him.

Again, Blaise had tried to convince Draco to be with other women besides Astoria, but again he'd refused. Blaise had ever been the playboy, but Draco had never found a girl he felt comfortable around, let alone actually had feelings for.

Unless of course, one counted his weird little 'crush' on Granger back in Hogwarts. Which he didn't count at all. In fact, it still confused him as to what he had actually felt for her.

But that was something he tried never to think about. Especially not now, in light of her rudeness towards him, and the way Blaise had somehow become a different person. He said he didn't like Hermione, but Draco wasn't so sure is friend wasn't secretly harbouring feelings.

XXXXXX

"Morning Harry!" Ginny smiled as she sat down next to her ex-boyfriend at their usual table in the café. Ron and Hermione had both excused themselves from the group lunch that week, but Harry and Ginny no longer felt awkward around each other, and were comfortable and fine with having lunch together.

"Hey, Gin." Harry smiled crookedly, squinting in the sunlight. She spotted a familiar looking album sitting on the table in front of him.

"Is that?" she laughed, taking it from him and opening it.

"The DA, yeah." Harry smiled fondly. "See, there's Neville… and Hermione and Ron…"

"There's Fred." Ginny said sadly, spotting her brother.

"And there's the sneak." Harry joked light-heartedly, gesturing to Marietta Edgecombe.

Ginny laughed, remembering the pimples. "I wish I had a photo of the new DA." She said suddenly. "But of course photos were not on our priority list."

Harry nodded sympathetically, but Ginny didn't notice, thinking about how in this photo, Harry and Ron and Hermione were in the forefront, clearly leaders. If it had been _her _DA, it would have been her Neville, Luna… And Blaise.

Without warning Ginny felt the memory of the first time she had encountered Blaise properly flooded back to her.

"_Dumbledore's army, still recruiting." She muttered to herself as she walked silently and quickly down the Charms corridor, checking behind her for any movement or wand light._

_She knew it was Flitwick's night to patrol here, and he didn't exactly know, but more suspected, exactly who the students were who spray painted the walls with Dumbledore's Army slogans, and he generally left them alone to do their work. But the Carrows were known to be tricky, and if one of them suspected Flitwick of going easy, they could have swapped shifts and could be waiting for anyone out of bed._

_But Ginny's disillusionment charms had gotten so much better in the last few months (they'd had to, for she, Neville and Luna were the ones that went out at least twice a week and painted the words on the walls), so she doubted she'd be seen._

_She approached her intended destination and pulled out her muggle spray paint can, when suddenly out of the darkness, came a voice._

"_Dumbledore's army, still recruiting." It was amused, and darkly so._

_Ginny's heart leapt into her throat and she whirled, pulling out her wand._

_The figure stepped into the less shadowy part of the hall and she stared suspiciously. "Zabini."_

"_Weasley," he replied mockingly, leaning casually against the wall. "Whatever are you doing out so late?"_

"_I could ask you the same question." She hissed, not lowering her wand._

"_I should have thought it was fairly obvious," he replied with a sneer. "I've come to join your army."_

"_Bullshit," she said promptly._

_He shrugged. "It's true. And you know, having a pureblood who the Carrows love would be extremely useful. Don't turn me away if you know what's good for your group."_

"_Why would you want to join?" she hissed._

_He shrugged again, hands in pockets. "I have my reasons."_

"_And I'm supposed to just believe that-Oh!" She whispered, as she heard the sudden giggle of Alecto Carrow coming down the corridor._

"_You!" She glared at Zabini._

_He shook his head, pushing her into the shadows, and stuck his hands in his pockets again, pulling out a cigarette and sticking it in his mouth. Soon, Alecto's voice spoke, "Blaise Zabini, what are you doing out here?"_

"_Professor Carrow," he smirked. "I was just out here having a quiet moment to myself. The Slytherins are throwing a rather… wild, if you get my meaning, party, and I'd rather smoke by myself."_

_Her giggle once again filled the air. "Right you are then Zabini. Mind you report any Potter supporters to me." She gave him a flirty look, then departed._

_Ginny's heart clenched at the mention of Harry's name. Never mind Alecto's cougar ideals, her mind was focused on HIM. She loved and hated him for just leaving her there and taking off with Ron and Hermione, while she was left here, alone and scared. She knew it was selfish but she missed him._

_Alecto's footsteps soon died away and Zabini returned to her. He gave her a pointed look. "Let me join." He said._

_She examined him; his dark eyes were shining with surprising honesty. _

"_Okay."_

"Gin?" Harry asked.

"Oh! Sorry!" She looked up, smiling slightly. Why was she still thinking about Blaise? He didn't deserve a second thought.

"So how's Dean?" Harry joked. "Usually you can't wait to talk about him."

Ginny resisted the urge to cry out in frustration. She hated Dean! Well. Not really. He was alright, she supposed. But she DID hate pretending like he was her adored love though. She couldn't stand acting so totally happy when she couldn't stand her life. It was unbelievably boring. Dean even seemed to be falling for her act, and was as happy as he had been in the beginning stage of their Hogwarts relationship, even giving her his Grandmother's ring."

"Dean's great, as usual. He's really enjoying his job at the Quidditch stadium selling tickets."

"And how are you going auditioning for places?" Harry asked, but was interrupted by the waitress asking them what they wanted.

Ginny chose a salad, not in the mood for a proper meal, and Harry a turkey sandwich. The waitress gave them a smile and left, leaving Ginny to answer Harry's question.

"It's going alright." She said reluctantly. Really, it wasn't going at all. Her search for a Quidditch team that would take her had been fruitless so far. "I have an interview with the Hollyhead harpies in two weeks, but I'm not that bothered. Everyone knows Gwenog is really selective."

Harry gave her a sympathetic loo, and she smiled back. "And how is auror training?" she asked, knowing his face would light up.

It did. "It's amazing, Ginny! Yesterday we learned this new strategy move, it -" And so Ginny let herself be distracted from her boredom with life for a while, listening to her friend's excitement.

XXXXXX

Hermione had had a fulfilling day at work. She had finally completed the brief she had been compiling in assistance for the Boss, and the matter was going to trial next week, her boss had even said she could attend, making Hermione's day.

Megan had also asked her to come over for some drinks with Naomi and some other girls again that weekend, telling her she could bring company if she wanted, further brightening the day. To top it all off, Jan had been absent all day, and Naomi had told her that she had accidentally spilled coffee all over herself and had had to go home and change clothes.

So all in all, her working day had been very pleasing, but as she stepped into the line to have her wand checked over at the counter on her way out with some other ministry employees, she spotted a familiar blonde head, standing a couple of places ahead of her in line. She grained, remembering the humiliation she had felt that morning when he'd rejected her truce before she'd even suggested it.

Unfortunately she'd groaned rather loudly and the line was quite quiet, and he turned around. Their eyes met and she saw his shine with anger, his lip curling into a derisive sneer. Just as she was about to narrow her eyes back at him, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned around to be greeted by a rather extremely handsome man with light brown hair and blue eyes. He had a wide smile and Hermione felt herself blush as she looked at him. "Yes?" she asked.

"Hi. You're Hermione, right?" He smiled.

"Um, yeah. I am." She nodded.

"Of course you are. Everyone knows the department of law enforcements best trainee." He smiled. "I'm Eric." He offered her his hand and she shook it, wondering why he was talking to her.

"I know this is a tad weird Hermione," he continued, "But I just wanted to say that you look really nice."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, embarrassed. She took care with her appearance on the days she went to work, it was true, but had never before received a compliment. "Thanks."

"I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go to coffee with me?" he proposed, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Oh!" she said again. "I'm sorry Eric, but I'm engaged."

"I know." He shrugged. "It just seems to me that most of these arranged marriages aren't being taken seriously. People are still seeing who they want to."

"Really?" she was surprised. Then, realising he was waiting for an answer, she said "Well. I'm afraid I do, sorry. I couldn't do that to him."

He nodded, not looking even the slightest bit put off. "Alright then, but when this law gets done for, give me a call up in the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures." He smiled again and walked off, leaving her feeling flattered, but rather embarrassed.

Feeling a pair of eyes on her, she turned to find Draco Malfoy watching her, not looking hostile for once, but… confused?

Feeling slightly smug, as Malfoy called her undesirable or ugly or disgusting and other names all the time, and had clearly just been proven wrong, not to mention Eric had called her 'the department of law enforcements best trainee' when this morning he'd been so sarcastic about her career, she gave him a tiny smile and a wave.

He whipped around to face the front of the line, moving forward to get his wand checked, before walking towards the exit without a backward glance at her.

A/N – So, another chapter is up. Again, not much Dramione, but come on. We're not even 10 chapters in yet! Don't worry, I just had an idea which will bring a tad bit of Dramione in the next few chapters, much earlier than I'd expected. This isn't 'New Event's, our Drakie has a bit of growing up to do before he's ready to be Hermione-worth!

As for the Blaise/Ginny flashback, we'll be having a few of those, as I've got them all written from a story I was going to publish, but never did because it was crap.

Also, to MoodHead – I'm sorry you didn't like the ending But I love your reviews always, bad or good.

Review? Trying to get 205, 210 at a stretch? Please!

Lissa


	9. Draco

Story: Act number 2715

Author: LadyLissaLight

Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!

**Draco left the ministry of **magic in a very bad mood. He'd already been in a bad mood that afternoon because he had to report there at the end of the day ad have his wand examined, like a common criminal. What was the point of clearing him of all charges, albeit giving him community service, if he was going to be treated like a loose cannon?

Seeing Granger there had made his mood even worse though, especially when she'd given him that sarcastic little wave and smug look, as if he gave a flying pig if someone hit on her. What had confused him though was that she had turned the man down. He didn't think she'd take her engagement to Blaise that seriously, especially as their wedding was ages away and they didn't seem to have any romantic inclinations towards each other at all. But that, he supposed, was just Granger and her self-righteousness and do-gooding instincts. He wondered if Blaise was seeing anyone on the side, but immediately disregarded the thought. His friend had obviously changed and respected Granger enough not to cheat on her.

He left the ministry and began his walk home, still thinking about his almost encounter with her. The man had even said she was attractive, which was preposterous! Wasn't it?

Stopping by his favourite coffee shop, he witnessed two people in the line in front of him arguing.

"It's not my fault this stupid law put me with you, the least you could do is hide your affairs from me!" The blonde woman was hissing.

"Affairs?" The brunette boy said coldly. "Don't act like you haven't been cosying up to your second cousin, Mella. But that's what you purebloods do, isn't it? Screw each other."

The girl slapped him sharply across the face and stalked off. The boy swore under his breath and left the line too, walking in the opposite direction from his counterpart.

The old man in line behind Draco, who he vaguely recognized as a member of the wizengamot, shook his head. "Stupid law. What were they thinking?" He muttered.

Draco silently agreed with him. This law was ridiculous and he couldn't believe Kingsley had gone along with it. Although he couldn't help being thankful he was already engaged to someone, he still wondered who he'd have been paired with had he been single.

Putting the thoughts out of his mind, he ordered his coffee and left as soon as it was ready.

Arriving home, he ripped off his cloak and flung himself onto the couch, sipping his coffee and closing his eyes.

He was half asleep from the warm fire when the couch dipped next to him. He opened his eyes to see a nervous looking Hermione Granger watching him.

He closed his eyes again. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to say I'm sorry for earlier." She muttered.

He snorted. "Bullshit. Don't apologise for something you meant."

"Oh I suppose that's why you've never said sorry to anyone?" she flared immediately. "Because you always mean the awful, cruel things you say?"

He sneered at her. "Duh."

"And I thought Ron was childish," she said witheringly. "I just came to say I'm genuinely sorry and you can't even accept that." She stood up and went to leave the room.

"Fine." He grunted.

She paused, giving him a cool look. "Fine," she echoed, walking away.

Draco hardly had a minute to be annoyed with himself, for the fireplace lit up and someone stepped through.

"Astoria." He frowned. "What are you doing here?"

She brushed a piece of ash of her robe. "I thought you might be pleased if I offered to cook dinner for you tonight," she offered him a smile. "I'm a good cook."

Draco's irritation rose. "And If I said I'd prefer for your house elves to cook?"

She didn't falter for a moment. "Then of course, I would arrange that."

He sighed, pinching his nose. "And If I decided I'd rather skip dinner and screw you on the dining table?" he asked brusquely.

"I – That would not be proper Draco." Astoria's cheeks flushed pink. "But if that was what you wanted…" she trailed off.

"What do _you_ want Astoria?" he asked, standing up. "Tell me."

"I of course, want you to be happy, for our household to be warm and loving and for our marriage to be as long and contented as your parents," she responded, smiling as if this would please him.

"Other than that! What food would you like ME to cook for YOU? What kind of house do you want? What's your favourite colour?" he asked slightly desperately. He knew nothing about this girl, he was fast realising.

"A husband should never cook for his wife," she admonished gently. "And I do not make such decisions as to housing, so I have no opinion as of yet. As for my favourite colour, it is grey, the colour of my husband's eyes."

Draco's gut clenched. He wanted to strangle her. "Just go, Astoria. Go."

She did, because that was what her Draco wanted.

Sitting back down, Draco put his head in his wands. _Shit_, he swore. What kind of life would he have, with her? There would be no fun, or even any arguments or fights! He'd almost rather be married to Granger.

"I need a drink." He muttered.

Blaise's liquor cabinet was fully stocked and as Draco searched through it, he found the perfect bottle. The aged wine his parents had given him to drink with his bride on their wedding night. Grinning slightly, he charmed the cork out and poured himself a glass.

"Ah, rebellion," he said to himself as he chugged it down, decimating the fine tradition.

XXXXXX

"What are you doing!" A shrill voice pierced his ears, sounding like a cannon going off.

"Shit." He opened his eyes to a pounding headache and sick feeling in his mouth, not to mention the irate woman bending over him.

Her hair was pulled back in a sharp bun and she wore a grey skirt suit, with her eyes shaded in brown. She looked quite attractive, he half-heartedly admitted to himself.

"Stop staring at me! How dare you collapse like a lazy drink on this couch where I have to -"

"Shut up woman!" he growled. God, her voice was like a drum on his head.

"And you're hung-over too!" she snapped, not lowering her voice. "Well we don't allow drunken good for nothings in our apartment, so get off the couch! And that better not be Blaise's wine!"

"Ssh, Granger," he groaned, rising. The bottle of wine was mostly empty, and he was in the same clothes he'd been wearing the night before. "Make me a hangover potion like a good girl."

"Excuse me!" she shrieked, and he covered his ears with a wince. "I am not you slave, I am -"

He put his hand over her mouth, too hung over and tried to notice her stiffen, nor the fact that it was the first time he'd actually touched hr. "Please."

She looked taken aback, then scowled and marched off. God, even the sound of her heeled shoes was like someone hitting him on the head.

He dragged himself to his room and collapsed on the bed, closing his eyes and trying to ignore the pounding of his head.

He was just starting to drift into sleep when he heard a loud voice say "Here. Drink the stupid potion and go to work."

He looked up to see Granger glaring at him half-heartedly, and a glass of familiar looking liquid on his bedside table. "Don't expect a thank you," he sneered, and she humphed and stalked off. Bossy little twit.

He downed the potion and within minutes felt the pounding in his head case and the sick feeling in his stomach dissipate. The tiredness, however, remained the same.

Reluctantly Draco dragged himself out of bed and forced himself into the shower - it was going to be a long day. Why could Granger not have whipped him up some pepper up as well? Lazy woman.

XXXXXX

"Malfoy you're late!" Barked Geoff.

Draco subtly rolled his eyes. "Yes."

The older man eyed him, then burst into sudden chuckles. "I know the look of a hangover potion!" he shook his head. "You remind me of meself."

Draco inwardly thought not, but held his tongue. Geoff was he boss of Draco's little 'training' group of curse breakers here at Gringotts and it didn't do well to get on his bad side.

"Right." The older, barrel bellied man said when he finished chuckling, "Today, you'll be working in pairs. Down in one of the empty cells we've set up as practice. Each is an exact replica of a real cell down in the oldest vaults. Let's go. Pairs are…"

He rattled off a list of names and Draco swung around to look for his partner, Arabella Jessies was her name and she was obviously muggle born with a last name like that.

"You're Draco Malfoy, right?" A tell girl with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail tapped him on the shoulder. "I'm Ara."

He nodded curtly. "Hello."

As they followed Geoff along with the other six pairs, 'Ara' chatted happily away, wondering which vault they'd be working on and how she was so excited about this job and if there could be any chance of travel in this industry?

Draco tuned her out as they descended down into the depths of the vaults on one of the familiar carts. Ara was shrieking happily but Draco felt no rush of fear. Once you'd been around the dark lord, you stopped feeling thrills or rushes or fear at insignificant things like this. In fact, a lot of the time you just stopped feeling.

One by one the carts emptied, and then Geoff turned to them and gave Draco a once over as if estimating if he was up to it. "I've given you two a special task because this vault in particular that you're getting a replica of, seems to dislike anyone who tries to get into it. I doubt you'll be able to find the curses on this one, let alone disable them." He shrugged. "Let's go."

He led them along the dark floor, their shoes slapping loudly and echoing off the walls. Draco had a nasty feeling he knew where they were going. Next to him, Ara was looking spooked, but excited.

"Here we are." Geoff smirked at Draco. "Good luck." He ignored Ara and walked slowly back to the cart. "I'll be back in a few hours."

Draco grunted in response.

"Ohh! Look what it says!" Ara whispered theatrically, looking at the engraving on the door. "The Lestrange vault!"

Draco felt a surge of anger. He supposed Geoff found this amusing. "Let's go."

"But how do we even open it?" Ara asked in awe.

"I'm family, remember?" he snapped at her. He placed his hand on the doors and they swung open, revealing a very deceptive interior.

Gold lined the walls, suits of armour and heavy jewels lay scattered about, trinket boxes resting on more piles of gold, and a few swords and random items of junk lay about.

"Holy cow!" Ara said in shock. Draco just grunted again.

"Just look at all this!" she exclaimed, going to step inside.

"Don't." he cut her off, voice curt.

She looked at him, a frown marring her pale skin. "What is it?"

He ignored her and stepped inside the vault first. "Let me."

**A/N** So, this was obviously a filler chapter, but I just wanted to give a bit of a perspective into Draco's life, his relationship with Astoria, and his job.

What do you think of Astoria?

Also, if and when you guys review *hint hint* answer me this: Would you rather read about an awkward Hermione/Blaise and Draco/Astoria double date, or a subtly anger filled Hermione/Blaise and Ginny/Dean date? I'm just not sure which one would be more amusing!

Lissa


	10. BFFs

Story: Act number 2715

Author: LadyLissaLight

Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!

**Blaise put down his spellbook** as the flames in his fireplace turned green.

"Blaise," called Hermione from upstairs. "That'll be Ginny, tell her I'll be down in a minute."

Blaise shouted back an affirmative, then watched the flames carefully as the familiar red headed girl stepped through, prepared to start his teasing. He was stopped short however, by how beautiful she looked.

Her dark red hair was piled on top of her head and she was wearing a short black dress and boots. He stared.

Luckily she didn't notice, too busy muttering angrily and trying to do up the clasp on her necklace, which had gotten caught in a stray tendril of her hair.

"Ugh!" she grunted, scowling, then noticed Blaise.

"Hello Zabini." She muttered.

"Hermione will be down soon," he told her, watching her angry face in amusement.

She continued to struggle for a few more moments, her face growing ever more red, before she swore and flung the necklace away from her, ripping some hair out as she did so. "I give up." She said, glaring daggers at the necklace.

Blaise smirked. He rose from his chair and went over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Ssh. Red, calm. Breathe."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Right."

He bent and retrieved the necklace, picking the hair off and calmly placed it around her neck before once more repeating, "Breathe."

"Thank you Blaise," she uttered. "That always works."

They both paused, before Ginny went pink and quickly said "I'm going to er, see what's taking Hermione so long." She scurried away, leaving Blaise to his memories.

_He stood in the corner, a slight crease between his brows as he watched the red head pace in front of him._

_It was his third D.A Meeting and so far he'd not been allowed to say or do anything. It was the youngest Weasley's plan to let the remainder of the group grow accustomed to having a Slytherin among them, before he was actually allowed to contribute._

_It was a smart plan and he knew it. The Longbottom kid didn't trust him in the slightest, but the Lovegood girl liked him. She was weird, but nice, in her own way. Weaslette was a natural born leader, from what he could tell, and right now everyone in the room was watching her pace._

_Longbottom looked worried, Lovegood looked unconcerned, and Weasley looked unbelievably stressed._

"_Alright." She sighed. "I can't think of anything else right now, so meeting adjourned. We'll think about it overnight. I'll contact you all with the galleons for the next meeting."_

_The room began to file out, everyone looking troubled. There was an informer in their midst, it seemed, as Dennis Creevey had been caught freeing a house elf that had been bound in ropes, when the D.A all knew the Carrows were supposed to be away from the school that weekend. Luckily Dennis had gotten off fairly easily due to some quick thinking, but Weasley was determined to find out who the traitor was. She just didn't seem to know how._

_Longbottom cast him a suspicious look and Lovegood waved her fingers dreamily at him as she followed the former, leaving him and Red alone in the room._

_He liked the youngest Weasley, he'd eventually decided. She was worth the respect many afforded her, including himself. She was definitely brave, but she was also smart and quick and tough, and so Blaise thought they could be friends._

_She sighed again, massaging her temples. He stepped towards her. _

"_Red."_

_She turned. "What, Zabini? This isn't working. I just -"_

_He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Calm. Breathe. Close your eyes and breathe."_

_She closed them, her body stilling and took several deep breaths. Blaise felt her shoulders relax a little. Eventually she opened her eyes._

"_Better?" _

"_Better." She smiled at him, before suddenly slapping her forehead. "Zabini! That's it!"_

_The next day she'd caught the traitor._

"Blaise?"

Hermione's voice jolted Blaise out of his reminiscing. He looked up and saw Hermione coming down the stairs, frowning at him. "Is something wrong?"

Blaise looked over her pretty outfit, a short purple dress and heels, and looked away. Hermione was beautiful. Just as beautiful as Ginny. So why couldn't he have feelings for her? They were going to be married after all. He couldn't just pine away for Ginny Weasley for the rest of his life, especially as she seemed so enamoured with her match, Dean.

He had to give up on Ginny and focus on Hermione. It should be simple. Hermione was funny, smart, a good listener…

He stood up in determination. "Hermione, when you get home, we should talk."

She looked puzzled and a tad worried. "Okay… is everything alright?"

He nodded. "Goodnight."

He walked up the stairs and past her and Ginny, ignoring the latter, still forcing himself not to think about her in that dress.

XXXXXX

Draco watched from the kitchen as Weasley came out of the fireplace, watched Blaise's expression as he saw her, and watched him place the necklace around her neck, before they both turned red and Weasley practically fled.

He was about to emerge from his hiding spot in the kitchen when Granger and Weasley came down the stairs together. Draco couldn't help but doing a double take when he saw what Granger was wearing. It was short and purple and undeniably hot.

Everyone knew she looked good in pink and purple since the Yule Ball in fourth year, and it seemed she was using that to her advantage again tonight, with a dress of purple and her hair swept over her shoulder in curls. She and Blaise were conversing, before she sat down and slipped on a pair of even more purple shoes, making her legs look almost sinful.

Draco stared until they left the house, then mentally slapped himself. Ridiculous. Granger was Granger, who cared what she looked like?

It was the same argument he'd had with himself through a lot of Hogwarts, especially at the yule ball and Slughorn's Christmas party, where he'd caught a brief glimpse of her as filch hauled him into the room.

Leaving his lurking place, he headed upstairs to find his housemate.

"Hey." He knocked on his friend's door. Blaise was lying on his bed staring moodily at the wall.

"Hi."

"Granger and Weasley going out I see?"

"Mhm."

"What's up with you?" Draco scowled.

"Nothing."

"Is it anything to do with the puppy dog looks you were giving Weasley?"

Blaise finally looked at him properly, a glare on his face. "What?"

"Oh come on, you think she's hot," Draco said easily.

"Oh." Blaise looked relieved. "Yeah."

"Me too. In fact, I thought I'd have a go with her…" Draco egged, knowing this was the only way to get Blaise to spill.

"Don't you dare!" his darker friend snapped. "Don't you touch her."

Draco smirked. "Wasn't going to."

"Should've known. You always were a prude." Blaise glared at him, but it was more resigned than angry this time. "I don't want to talk about it."

"But you admit there is something to talk about."

Blaise nodded curtly. "End of conversation."

"Fine," Draco shifted his shoulders.

"I need a drink. Let's get out of here." It was said suddenly.

Draco unhitched himself from the wall and shrugged. "Okay."

"There's a new club here in London," Blaise nodded, getting off the bed and removing his shirt, before rifling through his cupboard to find a new one.

Draco rolled his eyes. "See you in a few minutes."

He returned to his own room and looked through his wardrobe. Draco normally hated going out. He'd prefer to sit at home and drink with a couple of friends than go out and dance. The pounding of the music always irritated him. But Blaise was in a mood, and Draco figured he might as well go. He didn't exactly know what to wear, though. Blaise usually went for the extravagant 'here I am, ladies!' look, but that was not at all Draco's style.

In the end, he donned a simple black button down, refusing to act like a girl on a date and hover over different options.

He emerged from his room to find Blaise waring an olive green shirt, open at the neck, with his hair gelled into spikes, waiting impatiently. "Hurry up!" he whined.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

They left the house and made in the direction of the new pub, Blaise walking quickly and Draco upping his pace to keep up with his fried. "Why do you want to go to the pub so badly?" he muttered.

Blaise shrugged. "Heard there's good booze."

"There's good booze in the house." Draco snorted.

"Okay, maybe I felt like following the girls," Blaise admitted, not looking at Draco.

"What?" he growled, just as Blaise stopped in front of a new building Draco hadn't seen before.

His friend shrugged and they joined the few people wandering inside.

Draco looked around and sighed internally. It was much too 'wow factor' for him. There were weird pulsing lights and girls dancing on tables and a stage with a band signing, not to mention the wall long bar with four bartenders.

"What ever happened to a quiet beer at the Leaky?" he grumbled under his breath.

They sat down at a table and a scantily dressed witch took their order before whirling away.

"I cannot see Granger and Weasley coming here," Draco commented, glancing around.

Blaise was frowning. "You're right. They have too much 'girl power'" he sketched the words with his hands, "to come to a place where we're served by hookers."

Draco rolled his eyes. "I was going to say because Granger's too much of a prude and Weasley's too poor to afford any of these drinks, but say what you will."

Blaise glared at him briefly, but was distracted with the arrival of his firewhisky.

"Maybe I was wrong and they aren't here," Blaise said finally, after a few minutes of looking around at the other tables.

"Or maybe they are." Draco nudged his friend.

Blaise turned and they watched Granger and Weasley enter the club with a few other girls, the seven of them already looking like they'd had a bit to drink.

"Must have made a stop along the way," Blaise commented, his eyes on Ginny Weasley.

Draco, who was watching Granger, nodded absentmindedly before downing some of his scotch.

"By the way, Hermione told me you got really drunk a couple of days ago and she had to make you a hangover potion. I hope you thanked her." His dark friend said out of the blue.

Draco grunted. He didn't do thankyous. They were unnecessary. She wouldn't have done it if she hadn't wanted to, he hadn't forced her, and so he felt no need to thank her.

"You didn't, did you?" His friend was still watching Weasley.

The girls were now sitting down at a table which one of the dancing girls stood upon, while another girl dressed in the same scanty uniform as the one that served their table, was taking their orders. He could see Hermione and Ginny talking. Or rather, giggling, with a blonde next to them.

"Isn't that Estella?" Blaise asked, squinting.

"Who?"

"Weasel's fiancée," Blaise answered, still squinting at the girls.

Draco shrugged, not having met the girl.

"You never thanked Granger!" Blaise said suddenly, returning to his original point. "Go over there now and thank her. I'll come too."

Draco looked suspiciously at his friend, who'd been refilling his firewhisky constantly. He knew an excuse for Blaise to chat up a girl when he saw one, but he smirked as he thought of the ear chewing Weaslette would give him. "Yeah." He shrugged. "Let's go."

Blaise grinned and rose to his feet. The two of them picked their way around a few other tables, before they reached the one full of giggling girls.

"Hey!" Blaise grinned at them all. "Wassssup?"

The girls looked up. A few of them gave each other looks, while one of them ignored Blaise and eyed Draco, smirking. The last two exchanged a look, and stood up. "What are you doing here?" Granger snapped, looking at him.

"Yes, what ARE you doing here? Stalking us?" Weaslette hissed at Blaise.

The other girls all looked at each other and whispered excitedly.

Blaise grinned lazily. "We wanted to see our favourite girls and tell them how lovely they look tonight. Right Drake?" He nudged Draco, who was still looking at Granger.

"Hm? Right, yes." He agreed, earning himself a spiteful look from the brunette.

"You're Draco Malfoy!" One of the girls said suddenly, standing up. It was the same one that had smirked at him a minute ago. She had smallish eyes and wasn't very pretty in Draco's opinion.

He waited for the sneer and the nasty comment, perhaps a drink thrown at him. It was what he'd been getting before he left for France.

Instead, the girl smiled at him. "You're even better looking in person," she almost purred.

Taken aback, Draco glanced awkwardly away… and saw Granger's face. She was glaring at the other girl, dislike showing in her eyes. Somehow, probably because he'd been drinking, this gave Draco what seemed to be an amusing idea at the time.

"Why thank you," he said in his best modest voice, stepping closer to Granger, who looked at him curiously. "And what's your name? Any friend of Hermione's is a friend of mine." He grinned, sliding his arm around her small shoulders. She stiffened slightly, but her dislike of the girl seemed to trump her dislike of him. Oddly, he felt triumphant.

"Oh, you two know each other?" the other girl narrowed her eyes.

"Oh yes, the three of us live together." Blaise put in, wrapping his arm around Ginny, who rolled her eyes. "In fact, all four of us are… how do you say, bffs?"

The girl looked irritated. "Really? Hermy, how come you never mentioned this?"

Blaise and Draco looked to Hermione, who had been silent up until now and seemed to be internally debating whether she should play along or not. Finally, she said "Well we generally keep it quiet because Draco has all these weird followers that come to stare at him and he gets a bit creeped out…"

Draco swallowed a snort of laughter at the girl's expression. Blaise had no such qualms and sniggered quietly. Weasley and Granger traded loaded looks.

"Anyway, we're having a girl's night out, so you two can leave now," Granger shooed Blaise away before glancing at him. He wasn't sure what the expression on her face was, but she ended up saying "You too. Both of you, go away!"

Blaise sulkily walked away, leaving a chuckling Draco to follow him.

XXXXXX

Hermione was sipping her Elvish Elixir and listening to Naomi and Alexis chat about their irritating fiancé's with much mirth, when Ginny's arm slipped through Hermione's and pulled her away.

Reaching a dark corner, she stopped. "What was that before?" she asked, sounding impressed.

"What?" Hermione asked, frowning. Her head was pleasantly hazy and she couldn't remember what Ginny could be talking about.

"With Malfoy! You totally played along!"

"Well duh. It's Jan. I hate that bitch." Hermione said loudly, causing Ginny to laugh.

"I reckon you two could get along waaaaay better if you tried!" Ginny nodded her head furiously. "I mean, did you see him laughing at what you said! Besides," she giggled, "He's so good looking!"

"Gin, you're tipsy!" Hermione said in amusement. "You'd never say that sober!"

"Exactly!" Ginny gave a little jump. "That's why drinking is so fun! Because I can admit that Blaise looks so damn good tonight that I just wanna…" she made several motions with her hands which made Hermione's eyes widen.

"Oops! He's your fiancé Sorry!" Ginny grinned, not sounding sorry at all. "So, Blaise or Malfoy? Who'd' you rather shag?"

Hermione started to laugh. Ginny was right, this was funny. "Neither! Malfoy's a dick and Blaise… I do not see him that way!"

"So you Malfoy in that way but his dickness gets in the way?" Ginny raised her eyebrows and nudged Hermione.

"Ha, ha hilarious!" Hermione said sarcastically. "And dickness is not a word. I'm going back to my drink."

She marched back towards the table in the direction of her drinks, only to walk straight into… "Hey! What are you still doing here?"

Malfoy smirked at her, the lights making his hair shine different colours.

"Blaise wanted to keep spying on you two, so…" he shrugged.

She scowled at him.

"Oh come on Granger, you didn't mind me an hour or so ago." He said easily, smirking again.

"Yes because Jan was drooling all over you, the bint," she said darkly, rolling her eyes. "Anything to put her in her place."

"Jealous of her?" He grinned. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"I am not. I have no reason to be. She's unintelligent and our boss likes me better!" she said childishly, her drink making her say things she normally wouldn't. "Besides, did you see the look on her face when she saw you?" she giggled, almost forgetting who she was talking to.

Malfoy was leaning against the wall, a slight smirk on his face, watching her almost thoughtfully. "You're a fun drunk. Granger," he said eventually.

She stopped giggling. "I'm fun anyway!"

He raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "Not that I've seen."

Her cheeks flared brightly suddenly, and her eyes shone with anger. "Well it's not like you know anything about me! How would you know if I'm fun or not when you never gave me a chance?" she said sadly.

He regarded her quietly again. "It's not like you gave me one either."

"I didn't march up to you and call you a mudblood," she snapped.

He shrugged. "Okay."

He went to turn away, but her hand snagged his sleeve. "Don't walk away from me!"

He turned around again, eyes flashing. For some reason, her mind jumped to Ginny saying loudly "So you see Malfoy that way but his dickness gets in the way?"

"Very well Granger, what would you like me to say?" he frowned.

"I don't know!" she snapped. "But how dare you say I never gave you a chance when you clearly hated me from the moment you first saw me!"

"I didn't hate you Granger." He said quietly.

"Okay, this is too weird for me," she said suddenly, changing her track and backing away. "You hate me. I hate you. That's it."

He looked slightly disappointed. "Okay."

She turned away, her head spinning slightly. Draco Malfoy had NOT just said that he never hated her. It had to be the alcohol.

"Ginny," she called, seeing her redheaded friend chatting with Meagan. "Let's go."

XXXXXX

A/n – I liked this chapter. It was fun for me to write, especially because Draco and Hermione had a civil conversation, and I find those (for obvious reason) easier to right because I don't have to keep coming up with insults and ways for them to get angry.

Review pretty please?

Lissa


	11. Somebody to Love

Story: Act number 2715

Author: LadyLissaLight

Summary: Kingsley Shacklebolt is cornered in his office by three overbearing wizards. When they emerge, a change takes hold of the wizarding world – Act 2715. What is this act and why does it have Hermione spending so much time with Blaise Zabini? DMxHG!

**Hermione woke with a bit** of a headache.

She moaned against the pillow and buried her face further into the fabric. There was no way she was getting up as early as… 11.30!

She shot up; groaning again as her heard swam. Hurriedly, she got out of bed and into the shower, washing her hair and body. Then she got dressed and rushed down to the kitchen to find Blaise sitting reading the paper with a cup of coffee in hand.

Hermione read the headline over his shoulder. It read: Is it time for the wizengamot to divorce the marriage law?

She raised her eyebrows. "Hey. Can I see that?"

Blaise jumped and looked around at her. "Don't do that!"

She laughed, pouring herself some coffee. "Sorry."

"Yes you can read this, but I need to talk to you about something first." Blaise said suddenly, his facial expression turning serious. He closed the paper and gestured for her to sit opposite him. She did so, frowning.

"Is something wrong?"

"Not wrong, just…" he hesitated. "I'm not sure how to say this."

"It's just me, Blaise, you can tell me anything." She reached out and patted his hand.

He shook his head, sighing. "Ok. We're going to be married, right?"

She nodded, wondering where this was going.

"We're going to spend the rest of our lives together. You realise eventually we're going to have to kiss, probably share the same bed… maybe even have kids." He said carefully, watching her.

Hermione felt a little pit of worry grow in her stomach. "Yes…"

He nodded. "Well I just thought that, maybe we should stop acting like best friends and… try and see if we can be a couple?" He looked away.

She raised her eyebrows, shock overcoming her. She'd thought Blaise was fine with the just being friends. He'd said when she first moved in that he expected nothing of her, that they wouldn't have to 'do' anything

"Blaise… when I moved in you told me -"

"I know." He cut her off. "And I still stand by that. I'm not trying to pressure you into anything, not saying you have to do this or that we can't just be friends. I'm just saying… wouldn't you rather be in a marriage full of love or at least something other than friendship? If we can find even the smallest something… it'll make this a lot easier for us."

She was silent for a moment as she processed this. "How-How long have you been thinking about this?" she asked eventually.

"Not long. Just since yesterday actually. I mean, why not? We get along great, I'm hot, you're hot" – at this she cracked a smile – "and we like lots of the same stuff. I'm not asking you to… you know, sleep with me or anything. Just… maybe we could go on a date or – or kiss or something. I don't know." He ran both of his hands through his hair. "I want to eventually feel toward you as more than friends. Don't you want that?"

When she didn't answer, he stood up. "I'm not saying you have to do anything now. Just think about it." He leant across the table and kissed her cheek.

As he left the room, she sat there, still in shock. Where had all this come from? Vaguely she reached up and touched the spot where he'd kissed her cheek, wondering if it could ever happen.

Blaise was right, he was certainly good looking enough… and he was smart, funny and she could have meaningful conversations with him about things she cared about. Maybe she should give it a go?

"My head hurts." She mumbled.

What she really needed was some girl advice on this, and she thought perhaps Ginny, although the other girl seemed to have some sort of grudge against Blaise, so maybe not.

Having an idea, Hermione picked up Estella's number.

"Hello?" the blonde answered after two rings.

"Hey. I was wondering if you could give me some advice?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"Hermione Granger, asking for advice?" Estella laughed. "Shoot."

"Okay. Well…"

XXXXXX

Blaise left the room, thinking about how he wasn't sure if his conversation had gone well or had been a disaster.

She hadn't immediately dismissed the idea, or yelled at him, or even just said no, so he supposed that was a good thing. On the other hand, she also hadn't said yes or given any indication that she'd been thinking along the same lines as him. She looked and almost scandalised at this idea of them trying to be more than friends.

But, thought he'd never admit it, what Blaise had wanted ever since he could remember, was a family that loved him, that he felt truly part of that he would do anything for and vice versa.

When he'd first heard about the marriage law, he'd been horrified, upset, angry. He'd gotten so drunk to try and forget that the thing he'd been trying to escape from since he was a small child and finally had when his mother passed away, was being forced upon him anyway: an arranged marriage.

Blaise hated the pureblood tradition of marrying children off to the best families to keep the blood pure and to form alliances. He thought it was sick and archaic. If muggles were so disgusting, he'd always thought, then why were they so far ahead of the wizarding world when it came to society and traditions?

His mother had of course, always wanted him to have an arranged marriage and it was the one thing that he was happy about due to her death. He'd lost his mother, but he'd gained his chance at having a real, loving family, a wife and children and a lovely home, all of his own choosing.

And to have the ripped away from him had been torture, but getting Hermione as a match seemed like a breath of fresh air. She was warm and loving and he felt that, even if they weren't in love, they could still love each other and have that loving family full of hugs and singing and snowball fights.

It was only when Ginny had come back into his life that he realised that wouldn't do, that he couldn't be happy with that. He couldn't just have sister type love. He still wanted that connection, that bond, with a woman. And he was going to damn well try and make it work with Hermione, no matter how long it took. They had the rest of their lives, didn't they? Blaise would have his family, he needed it.

He sank onto the couch in the lounge room, lost in thought about how he would convince Hermione without putting her out of her comfort zone or hurting her. He didn't want to do either of those things.

"Blaise?" called a voice. He glanced up, scowling.

"What Malfoy?"

"Someone's here to see you. Mr Lynch."

Blaise paused for a moment, frowning. He couldn't recall the name.

"He says it's about business." Draco shrugged.

"Shit." Blaise swore. "Oh merlin."

"What?"

"I'll tell you afterwards. Hang on."

Blaise straightened his robes and strode towards the front of the apartment, pasting a smile on his face.

Mr Lynch, a middle aged man in pinstriped robes stood impatiently in the lounge. He coughed when he saw Blaise approaching. "Mr Zabini," he said, "Most sorry to interrupt your day."

Blaise shook his hand and guided him into the private study. "It's fine Mr Lynch. I am, ah, however, quite preoccupied today, I apologise."

"I just came to request your presence at a meeting with myself and my partner." The older man said importantly. "This is a very important meeting – if you catch my drift."

Blaise did. This meeting had to go superbly or their business together would end before it even began. "I would be happy to attend." He replied evenly. "Name your time."

"Tomorrow. 9Aam." The older man said, smiling knowingly at Blaise. "The sooner the better, eh?

Blaise's insides froze solid. "Yes of course sir," he said smoothly. "Why don't you all come here in fact? I've got a room perfect for a meeting."

The older man's bushy eyebrows lifted. "Very well. I will see you on the morrow."

Blaise nodded. "I assume Theodore knows about this?"

Lynch nodded. "Of course, but he said it was really your domain of expertise."

Blaise managed another smile. "Of course. See you tomorrow."

He guided Lynch out the door before yelling "SHIT" at the top of his lungs.

Draco appeared a minute later. "What's got your wand in a knot?"

"Months ago I went to Lynch and proposed a deal between our businesses. He said he'd think about it and I totally forgot!"

"Well what's the problem?"

"I'm supposed to be brilliantly knowledgeable about what his company does, but I know NOTHING." Blaise groaned. "What am I going to do? Theo doesn't know anything either."

Draco snorted. "What's the company do?"

"They harvest rare potions ingredients, but they specialise in magical creature ingredients – you know, unicorn tail, phoenix tears, dragon scale. Stuff that's not easy to get. Boomslang skin even. I was brilliant at potions, but I never paid attention in care of magical creatures! And he's going to want to talk about value and price and I'm going to get screwed over! I know nothing about how much more valuable a feather from a mountain phoenix is than a feather from a water phoenix!" Blaise ranted.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "You're in luck. I happen to know everything there is to do with that subject. I've studied it extensively."

The feeling returned to Blaise's body and he jumped up. "Bloody brilliant! Fantastic!" he paused. "But you won't be allowed in the meeting." He swore.

Draco shrugged. "I'll teach you."

"No, that won't work." Blaise dismissed. "Besides, I need to go over my research of the company and prepare for the meeting."

"Wait. Was that Lynch as in Lynch and Conor?" Malfoy interrupted.

"Yes…"

His friend laughed. "You're screwed. I know their company like I know yours, and you're going to get slaughtered."

"Wait… you know their company that well?" Blaise's eyes narrowed, an idea forming in his mind.

"Yep." Malfoy folded his arms.

"You can go in my place!" Blaise exclaimed. "Polyjuice!" he shook his friend's shoulders excitedly.

A Gryffindor would have shaken their head and said 'absolutely not!' only to give in with more pleading. Draco just shrugged. "Yeah, alright."

"Brilliant!" Blaise exclaimed. "Now come here and we'll go over the notes together, I'm not letting you sell us out for less than we should be getting."

A/N – Poor Blaise.

Reviews?

Lissa


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